Shadow of Kyuubi
by SilverNinjaHikaru
Summary: Haku lay dead at his feet, killed by Naruto's own hand. Now understanding what being a ninja means, the vessel of the Kyuubi will find out that life is full of challenges, especially his. And that killing Haku will change much from its intended future.
1. Tainted Purity

Summery: Haku lay dead at his feet, killed by Naruto's own hand. Looking upon the face of a person he had respected, Naruto knew what being a true shinobi meant. But as the vessel of the Kyuubi was soon to find out, life was full of challenges, especially his. And killing Haku, would cause much to change from its original path.

Rating: PG-13, for swearing, fighting, ext.

Disclaimer: Last time looked at the cover of Naruto I saw the words 'Story & Art by Masashi Kishimoto.' Not Story and Art by SilverNinjaHikaru. Does that tell you something? Plus, I can't draw that well. So if there was a 'Naruto by SilverNinjaHikaru' it would have been a piece of fiction.

**_WARNING! SPOILER ALERT! WARNING!_** This story has some major spoilers from Chapter 30 in the Naruto Manga and around episode seven or eight in the Anime. Actually, it's a spoiler for the whole Wave Country arch. Then it will start to incorporate spoilers for the rest of the anime and Manga released in America, and the Manga released in Japan.

* * *

Shadow of Kyuubi 

Chapter I (redone... again, Update 3! Date: 4-06-07 )

Tainted Purity

* * *

In all honesty, it was habit. Habit to keep the bandage like wrapping on the handle of the kunai. Why he and most other ninjas did it was for a simple reason, comfort. It was more comfortable for a ninja to hold onto the wrapped metal then the metal itself. Other then the bandage though, the entire kunai was metal. Blade, handle and the ring. All cold, unforgiving, cruel steel. 

Naruto's azure eyes looked to the renegade hunter ninja in front of him. Haku was his name, the loyal servant of Zabuza, the Demon of the Mist. _'Please. Take my life,'_ Haku had just asked.

Zabuza was the enemy, Haku served him without question. As long as Haku was alive, Tazuna the bridge builder was in danger. Tazuna's protection was the mission Kakashi, Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto had set out on. Kakashi was fighting Zabuza, Sakura was protecting Tazuna, and Naruto was faced off with Haku now.

And Sasuke lay on the ground behind Naruto; Haku's needles sticking out of his body and neck. Naruto hadn't found a heartbeat when he had checked him.

Even though Haku was Sasuke's killer, it didn't make Naruto hate him. The demon carrier just couldn't. He was filled with many emotions though. Dread, about how to break the news to Sakura. Fear, what would happen to the team after the mission. Sadness, for Sasuke had been comrade. A mix of so many emotions. But not hate, not anger, he couldn't bring himself to feel those.

The thick mist didn't let Naruto see the end or beginning of the bridge, nor the sides. It blocked his view from seeing Sakura, Tazuna, Zabuza and Kakashi. But Naruto could see Haku in front of him. The boy, no older then Naruto or his fellow Genin, was just standing there. Arms hanging limply at his sides and the fight gone from his eyes and posture.

The only other thing Naruto could see was the body of Sasuke behind him, if he turned his head around to see over his shoulder. Naruto did. "He… Sasuke had a dream, too." Naruto said distractedly. Mind drifting.

Finally his gaze dropped to the kunai loosely grasped in his hand. The wrapping was white. A pure, innocent color. White _was_ the color of purity and innocence. Unstained and untainted. But this color was never associated with ninja in Naruto's mind. Red, like that violent chakra that Naruto had just channeled, or black like Sasuke's eyes. But not white.

"If we'd met some other way, some place else," Naruto said. "You and me… we'd probably would've been friends." His fist clenched around the kunai. His eyes cut to Haku, and he lunged.

As his feet carried him towards the hunter ninja, he heard a quiet "Thank you."

Haku looked as his killer came towards him, the distance between them melting away. _You're going to be very strong_, he thought. Eyes unafraid as he looked upon the orange clad genin.

* * *

The mist was a thick, light grey. Depressing, in Sakura's mind, for she couldn't see how Sasuke was. "Huh…" Tazuna, the bridge builder she was guarding, said. "That super thick mist… its starting to dissipate…" Sakura looked up. Still holding the kunai in ready position as taught at the academy. 

"I see two people." Sakura said. She couldn't actually see _people_, but she could see two people shape blurs. "But it looks like they're just standing there, glaring at each other…"

"It's hard to make out..." Tazuna started, pushing up his glasses. "Which one is your master, Kakashi?" Sakura looked harder. Her pale green eyes narrowing.

"OH!" She took a small step forward. "One of them's moving!"

* * *

Naruto ran forward. Eyes closed for he had no wish to see his own hands kill Haku. 

'_Always keep your eyes open'_ Iruka had often said in the Academy._ 'Always keep your eyes open and on your target. It could mean the difference between life and death for you or a comrade, the success or failure of a mission. Always keep your eyes open.'_ That's what the teacher, and Naruto's favorite person, had said over and over so often that Naruto even heard it when he was asleep in class.

Naruto opened his eyes. The blue orbs locked on his target.

Haku.

Both of his hands gripped onto the kunai. Naruto didn't know if it was he wanted to just get it over with or something else, but he moved even faster then he had ever before in his life. Part of his mind, the part that had been cultivated since the first insult was hurled at him as a child for being a 'monster' and a 'demon'- that cold, indifferent part- scoffed at the cliché way that sounded, though at this moment it was quite true. His eyes latched onto Haku's neck, so he wasn't able to see the look of dread that suddenly crossed Haku's face nor the shudder that ran though the ice mirror users body.

Before Haku could discern what it was that filled him with such fear, Naruto was already upon him.

Naruto had never killed before; he had never really paid much attention in his classes. So as he brought his kunai up to the taller Haku's neck, he knew it would be messy. It was that little bit of him that couldn't help but mention this little fact to himself, the little bit that was slightly heartless from the people of the village for years scorning him because of his lot in life.

_When did he get so fast!_ Haku wondered as he briefly forgot that he sensed danger to Zabuza.

Naruto's hands shot forward. And as his kunai bit into Haku's neck, he understood what being a shinobi meant. For a brief second, he and Haku stood staring at one another. The grief in Naruto's eyes- the tears that were already gathering in his eyes- the shock in Haku's. All was at a stand still.

Then Naruto felt something warm drench his hands. Or more accurately, he became aware of the wet warmth that covered his hands and begun to soak into his sleeves. Haku collapsed, eyes sill opened wide with shock.

Looking at Haku's neck, Naruto found that his cut was long and deep. Cutting through the turtle necked outfit that Haku had worn.

The kunai was bloody, blade, handle, and even the ring. The purity of the wrapping stained. Tainted because of his actions.

Naruto's hands were drenched in blood.

He dragged in a shuddering breath, let out a shaking one. Then continued the cycle. He didn't realize when the kunai had fallen from his hands and clattered onto the battered cement, only that the blood on his hands was already forever ingrained into his mind. His sapphire eyes locked onto the ruby coating on his hands.

* * *

With the Chidori (One Thousand Birds) chirping in his hands, Kakashi slammed the fist full of lightning into Zabuza's chest. The man fell over and the summoned dogs, once dismissed from Kakashi, disappeared in puffs of smoke. 

Almost immediately, the mist started to lighten, the battle was over. Almost anti-climatic, in Kakashi's mind, he had half expected that masked boy to jump out and help Zabuza. Letting out a sigh he didn't know he was holding, the copy ninja headed over to where he had left his students. Hoping that the genius Sasuke, the pink haired Sakura, and the hyper-active Naruto managed to stay alive and keep the old man Tazuna alive as well.

* * *

"Look." Tazuna pointed over Sakura's shoulder. "It's the loudmouth." 

Only the loudmouth didn't look so loud now. In fact, he was barely breathing, though there wasn't a mark on him. In Sakura's mind, that was odd, because Naruto always managed to get hurt on even the simplest mission. And since he wasn't as good a ninja as Sasuke, he shouldn't be uninjured unless Sasuke was sparkling clean.

_Sasuke-kun._

"NARUTO!" Sakura yelled. The blond didn't move, staring at his hands as if he had never seen them before, and such a thing horrified him. "NARUTO! WHERE IS SASUKE-KUN?!" Sakura asked, wanting to go but told to stay with Tazuna. A tiny bit of worry flashed through Sakura for her blond haired teammate. But it was overwhelmed for her worry for Sasuke when she still couldn't see the Uchiha.

"Let's go find him." Tazuna offered. Placing a warm hand on her shoulder. They trotted over to where the Makyou HyouShou (Demonic Ice Mirrors), Haku's Bloodlimit, had been. Puddles of water and half melted clumps of ice showed that one of the mirrors had been shattered.

_I know Sasuke is powerful..._ Sakura thought.

_But this is ridiculous. _Inner Sakura added.

Then she saw a pale skinned, black haired boy clothed in Uchiha clan clothing lying on the cement. "S-S-SASUKE-KUN!" The single name tore itself from her throat, and she rushed over to the prone form on the ground. The pink haired kunoichi fell to her knees. "He's so cold…" She muttered as Tazuna came up behind her. "This… isn't and illusion… is it?" She asked, reaching out a manicured hand to touch her crushes face. "So cold."

"It's okay to cry." Tazuna told her, looking away from the body of the young boy. Sakura sniffled. "Don't hold back for my sake. There are times when it's right to give in, and shed some good, honest tears."

"I…" Sakura started, her mind drifting. Inner Sakura was sobbing, _Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun_. Over and over. "I always got perfect scores on all my tests in school… in the ninja academy." Tazuna glanced at her, worried for how the boy's death might be affecting her. "I memorized each and every one of The One Hundred Rules of Conduct for Ninja and Shinobi. I used to write them out with pride."

Tazuna opened his mouth to say something, but the girl continued on, as if she couldn't see or hear anything else around her. "We… had a test one day. And the question was…" She paused for a second. Tazuna was unsure of why, but the pause was pained. "The question was, 'What is the twenty-fifth rule of Shinobi Conduct?' And, just like always, I wrote it down perfectly, without hesitation or mistakes."

Tazuna jumped a little when a sharp, wet sniffle sounded. Not expecting such a loud sound during her quiet, somewhat calm speech. "I had written 'No matter what happens, true shinobi must never. Ever. Show their emotions!'" Tears were streaming down her face, and her nose was running "'Th-the mission is the only priority. Carry that in your heart. And never, never sh-shed a tear'…" The mixture of tears fell upon the Uchiha survivor's cheek.

Sakura collapsed on top of Sasuke and totally broke down. Tazuna awkwardly stood behind the girl.

_So, this is what it means to be a ninja._ Tazuna thought. _It's unbearable._ Though he knew these kids were trained to do this, he also knew that it was his fault, his lying, that pushed them into a mission they were far from ready to do. "Naruto." He called to the orange clad blonde. "What's wrong?" Naruto turned around, and Tazuna took a step back, they boy's outfit was ripped as if he, like his dead companion, had suffered attacks from the one ninja's needles. But unlike his dead companion, besides being alive, there were no needles nor visible injures on him.

Though his hands were covered in blood, that wasn't what scared Tazuna. It was the boys blue eyes; they lacked emotion, and life.

Dead.

The boy might be alive, but his eyes reminded Tazuna of his grandson's, Inari, right after the boys adoptive father was killed right before his eyes, the once hero dishonored and called a traitor before the boy who looked up to him the most. No, dead wasn't the right word.

Soulless.

For it's the soul in the body that makes it live, it's the soul that experiences the emotions. Without the soul, all that the body is, is a corpse. With out the soul, all the mind is, is a lump of brain that had potential at one time. The soul was everything, yet nothing with out the body to contain it or the mind to help direct it.

But when death came, the soul continued on. At least, that was what Tazuna believed. When the body was decomposed and the mind lost in the ocean of time, the soul continued on. Forever immortal.

* * *

Kakashi carefully approached Naruto. Unsure if the chakra of the Kyuubi he had felt earlier meant if or if not the slipped seal was back in place or if it had cracked. "Naruto?" The boy turned away from Tazuna. "Are you okay?" The boy blinked lifeless and emotionless eyes, and then looked down at the body that lay at his feet. 

"HA HA HA HAHAHAH!" Laughter rang across the battle field. Kakashi turned to the voice and Naruto looked up, as did Tazuna. Only Sakura remained too detached to the world to notice it. Still sobbing into Sasuke's chest. "It's good to see those mist dogs are where they belong. In HELL!"

Kakashi started to wonder at the sanity of the business man Gato, the one whom wanted their employer dead. At lest a hundred mercenaries, none ninja by what Kakashi's trained eyes –sharigan and regular- could see, stood behind the short man whose left arm was in a cast.

Naruto flinched at the man's voice, his blank mind registering who this man was and his relation to the boy who had died by Naruto's own hands. Gato, the man who had employed Zabuza- and Haku by default- who wanted Tazuna dead. Gato who owned an industrious shipping company that wanted to destroy the people of Wave's hope by cutting off all trade to them but for his own company, taking over the islands of Wave in a flexing of economical power.

"In truth, you just made things easier. Now my men here." He motioned to the unpleasant lot of mercenaries behind him, "Can kill you and then kill the bridge builder behind you."

The mercenaries laughed, talking loudly of how easy it would be to take out the two exhausted ninja, the one crying behind them both, and the builder.

"It's a pity though." Gato continued on. Taking only a few steps forward, so he was near the safety of the mercenaries who would protect their meal ticket. "I had wanted to get back the long haired brat for hurting my arm!" He spat on the ground, since he was too far away from Haku to spit on his corpse. "He's dead though, as he should have been long ago!"

Naruto's fists tightened, causing still wet blood to leak between his fingers. His eyes closed as he remembered, again and again the last moments of Haku's life, overlaid in his mind with the last words uttered by the greedy man before him.

Naruto's eyes snapped open to reveal the blood red and slit pupil eyes that spoke of Kyuubi's influence. Though this time it wasn't chakra, but strength.

This man, all the events that had taken place during the last week or so had all happened because of this man. While his one kunai lay at his feet, Naruto didn't reach for it but rather the extra he kept in his utility pouch. Yet another thing Iruka had embedded into Naruto's mind. _'Always have a backup.'_

Moving quickly, Naruto grasped it, mind, body, and soul intent on one thing. Vengeance for Haku's death in some way. Twisted as it might be, for it was Naruto who had killed him. It was this man who was at much at fault as was the Kyuubi carrier.

_Because of him…!_ Naruto thought. Grabbing his kunai. His arm whipped around as he threw it, a roar tore out of his fanged mouth, claws biting into the palm of his hands. _Because of this man!_ The kunai was hurling through the air, whistling as it rapidly approached the short, greedy mans head. _No._ Images of the people of Wave, beaten, and without pride trudging up and down the streets looking for jobs that were not available. Of shops closed or only selling a few of their scant remainder stock. Of an innocent island's suffering because of one mans greed._ Because of this monster!_

Kakashi's eyes widened as the kunai shrieked towards the company owner over the great distance. The speed and power behind the kunai, so quick that Gato had no time to save himself, so powerful that it sunk into the mans forehead to the place when the blade and the handle met. He heard Naruto's ragged breathing besides him, but that was all. When he glanced at Naruto, he saw only the slight clenching and unclenching of a child- a genin's- hand. Such strength for a genin, much less a mere child, was impossible.

Even the mercenaries were quiet.

* * *

Besides the black nothingness, the only thing he could register was a slightly muffled sound of loud sobbing. "Sasuke-kun…" Didn't he know that voice? Then he registered an aching pain all over his body, a feeling of stiffness even as he lay unmoving, his own body unresponsive to his commands. 

That sobbing still continued. As did the "Sasuke-kun…" that was being repeated over and over. Something on his chest felt wet…

…and heavy, making it painful for his already aching body. More sobbing, he knew he had heard that voice from somewhere before. _Sakura…?_ The dark nothingness went from a big black blur to a big white blur. _Am I… am I…!_

Now that white nothingness became something. He could see Sakura half on top of him, sobbing. "Sakura…" Sasuke wheezed out. "Your arm's heavy…"

He was lying on concrete. And now that the feeling was returning to his limbs, he felt sore all over. Breathing wasn't as easy as it once had been, probably due to the needles he could see sticking out of his own neck. The old man they had been assigned to protect, Tazuna, and his teammate Sakura stared at him in shock for a moment. Sakura snapped out of it first, and flung herself again onto the boy as she let tears flow freely down her face.

"Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun! SASUKE-KUN!" She shouted over and over. The injured prodigy gasped as the girl slammed into his sore body.

_I'm so happy for you, Sakura._ Tazuna thought, happy that the girl who had protected him most on the journey had her teammate and crush back.

"Sakura. You're hurting me…" Sasuke managed to wheeze out.

"OH! S-sorry." The pink haired girl loosened her arms around his neck, but kept them in place until Sasuke had collected himself enough to sit up on his own.

"I'm all right…" Using his arms to brace himself, the Uchiha shifted so he could kneel. "How's Naruto?" Collecting himself again, Sasuke prepared himself to stand up. "And that… little creep in the mask… what happened to him?"

"Don't try to move!" Sakura gripped the boys arm as tightly as she dared in his injured state. "Naruto's fine! And the boy in the mask is dead…" She trailed off when she saw Sasuke's shocked expression.

"DEAD!" His voice actually got louder then Sakura remembered ever hearing him. "Did Naruto…" Standing up was long forgotten.

Sakura's hands dropped from Sasuke's arm. "N-no… well I mean… I'm not sure. I didn't actually see it, with the mist and all. But you don't actually think _Naruto_ could have killed the ninja who nearly killed you!" She paused for a bit. "…right?" Sasuke seemed to be contemplating what she just said, so Sakura plowed on. "I… was afraid… I thought…" After reaching up to clean off her face as much as she could of her runny nose and tears with her forearm, Sakura clasped her hands before her. "Your so amazing Sasuke-kun! You survived a deathblow!" Her face lit up.

_Sasuke-kun is invincible!_ Inner Sakura chirped in.

"No…" Sasuke looked down. Remembering the battle. _Not me. Him. That boy in the mask never planed to… from the start…_

"NARUTO!" Sakura screamed.

* * *

Ignoring Kakashi's glance, Naruto focused on pushing back whatever that… thing inside him was that rose up and made him get so strong. It was the same… thing… that had been present when that red chakra had exploded from him when he had fought Haku in the Makyou HyouShou (Demonic Ice Mirrors). No amount of pushing was able to force that presence back, but focusing on the task allowed Naruto a way to gain control over his emotions. Only when his emotions were under some kind of control, not much- but better then before- was the presence forced to retreat back into the depths of the blonde's mind. 

"NARUTO!" Sakura's voice cut thought his thoughts.

_Sakura-chan!_ Naruto turned his head so as to see over his shoulder. The pink haired girl had her hands cupped around her mouth as she yelled to him.

"IT'S SASUKE. HE'S ALL RIGHT! HE'S ALIVE!" She called to him.

Twisting his head into what would have been a painful position if the adrenalin hadn't kicked back in, Naruto looked frantically over his shoulder for Sasuke.

The black haired boy raised his hand in a simple gesture in response. Bangs hiding his onyx orbs from Naruto's sight.

A watery smiled pulled at the whisker scared boys features despite the sorrow that still kept a vice like grip upon his heart.

"I've been worrying since the fight began… but…" Kakashi spoke. "Sasuke made it after all. Fantastic!" Both Naruto and Kakashi watched as Sakura continued to cheer 'Sasuke-kun!' Peace, once again resided over the team.

For a moment.

"HEY!" One of the mercenaries yelled out. But decided against stepping forward like his former employer had. "Ain't you sweethearts forgettin' somethin'!" He slammed his metal staff against the concrete. Team seven and Tazuna turned their attention towards the group.

"You ninja killed our meal ticket!" One mercenary, who seemed to be the spokesperson for the group, said. "And now your gonna DIE! The only way we can even break even now… is to overrun the city and loot every business and home!"

"OH YEAH!" The group behind him agreed.

"LETS GO!" the spokesman ordered, and the group charged forward.

"Uhhh… this isn't good." Kakashi told Naruto.

"Kakashi-sensei. Isn't there a technique you can use to take them all down at once?" The demon vessel asked.

"I'm afraid… with the chidori, the illusions and summons… for the moment I've exhausted my chakra!" He moved into a battle stance as well as he could from his crouched position on the ground.

An arrow whistled through the air and implanted itself in the ground before the mercenaries. With the formerly lethal obstacle in the way, they stumbled to a half.

Looking back towards the village, the mercenaries, Team Seven, and Tazuna was greeted with the sight of the people of the city, armed and standing up straight and proud for the first time in months. In front of all the adults, was little Inari wearing a pot tied over his head and holding a small, makeshift crossbow. "Stop where you are!" Inari instructed, backed up by the small army behind him. "This island is our home. One step further… and you'll die where you stand!"

"Inari…?" Tazuna blinked back tears. "All of you…?"

"INARI!" Naruto greeted the boy.

The youngster giggled. "Its being a hero, you know? All that nick in time stuff!" He said, using the words Naruto had told him only an hour ago when the blond had rescued Inari and his mother from two of Gato's thugs.

For a moment it was quiet on the bridge. Fierce, blooded mercenaries facing off the exhausted team seven of Konoha and the makeshift fighting force of the Wave.

"Good one." Naruto praised the boy. "Mind if I join in?" Though Naruto was tired, physically, and emotionally, he wasn't known for having freakish stamina for nothing. Kage Bunshins (Shadow Clones) appeared in a cloud of smoke behind him. Though there weren't many of them, the mercenaries were hesitant. It had been this boy who had killed their boss from far away with a single kunai.

_I can't manage anything solid with my chakra so low._ Kakashi sighed to himself. _But a bluff should be enough for these bozos. _Making a sign with his hands, Kakashi made normal, illusion Clones spring up. The mercenaries couldn't tell the difference between illusion and Shadow, and started to back away.

"Now…" One of the clones asked its comrades. "Shall we?"

With cries of 'Never mind!' and 'Run away!' The mercenaries fled. Some raced across the netting connecting the bridge to their small boat; others just jumped into the water or fell in from a comrade shoving him aside to make way.

Cheers arose from the people of Wave. Heads were raised high in pride as more and more added their voices to the thundering roar of glee, and returned hope.

Dismissing the Clones, Naruto and Kakashi batted the ninja smoke away from their faces. And Naruto felt the sadness fall over him again as snow began to fall.

"Snow… in the middle of summer?" One of Inari's solders questioned.

"He… Haku was born in a village where it snowed a lot." Naruto explained to Kakashi as he felt the stinging fire of held back tears, or tears that refused or couldn't fall, behind his eye lids.

"I see." Kakashi said, more for the boys benefit then his own actually understanding. Kakashi reminded himself to talk to Naruto later about how he managed to kill the mist ninja and about the chakra he had sensed. And perhaps try and offer some council to the distraught vessel. "He was a pure spirit, as pure and clean as newly fallen snow." When he looked back at Naruto, he asked "Naruto! Are you all right?"

Naruto had clutched at his head; it seemed as if the world was fading in and out. It was all just too much. Channeling the red, furious chakra, and that foreign strength. The exhaustion on his body from both the aforementioned problems and the battle with Haku, as well as his sprint from Tazuna's house, half way to the bridge, back to the home and then finally all the way to the bridge. The emotional rollercoaster with Sasuke dead, then turning out to be alive. Dealing with the mercenaries, and killing Gato. Killing…

Haku…

Naruto fell into the abyss of unconsciousness. "NARUTO!" Inari's scream was the last thing he remembered. Just before the image of Naruto's own blood coated hands sprung up into his minds eye. Then all went black, still, and silent.

* * *

Well? What do you think? Any questions, comments, ideas, or constructive criticism? 

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SilverNinjaHikaru


	2. Team Troubles

Disclaimer: There is a reason why the disclaimer is here people!

This chapter is dedicated to Sirshapechanger!

About Japanese translations:

I don't know Japanese. Actually, that's incorrect. I don't know MUCH Japanese. I do know about: some on honorifics, and some words and sayings (I took a class on Japanese not long ago) But it's mostly what a person would use in day to day interactions if they were in Japan. I don't think you'd use jutsus in Japan daily. So if there are any jutsus named, it'll be in English. The English that's in the Manga, because that's what I go by. If they mention the Japanese, I might put that. But there are no promises nor if I put it once will I always list the Japanese with the English. If you know the Japanese for a jutsu, or know the actually translation (in case VIZ messed it up) feel free to tell me. It'll do more good then harm. Or if I make up a jutsu (which is bound to happen with where I plan to lead the story) and you know a good Japanese translation for it, tell me!

About OC's: IMPORTANT READ OR DON'T COMPLAIN!

Yes, there will be OC's. But only as a supporting role. Some may only be mentioned as normal every day people, some may be only remembered as a past person who had great influence upon a Naruto character, but so far only one will be more then both the aforementioned areas. I know most people don't like these types of characters, but this OC will hopefully only be showing up a few times. I need a way to get certain events to happen, and this OC and the role that's played by the OC is the only way to get these events to take place. (Love how I don't mention any thing about the actually OC or the events?) And I'll do my best to keep the various OC's that show up limitations constant to both their roles, their part in the story, and how it would be in real life if the OC's were real. None of the people in Shadow of Kyuubi should be Mary/Gary Sue's. I personally hate characters like that; readers don't come to read about an author's perfect dream characters.

* * *

Shadow of Kyuubi

Chapter 2

Team Troubles

Am I… still asleep?_ Naruto thought. Aware of only the black abyss opened before him. "What the hell kinda dream is this!" The number one loudest ninja in Konoha yelled._

'This?' 'This?' 'This?'_ echoed back at him._

_Cocking his head to the side and crossing his arms across his chest, the boy muttered "Weird," under his breath. "Eh?" He looked at his hands. A stricken expression crossed his face. _Wha…? _His hands were coated in blood; it dripped off his flesh to form a red puddle on the all black landscape at his feet. Even as the blood dripped off at a steady pace, the same amount still managed toclung to his hands. _Blood! Mine?

_Then, he remembered._

"_No, Gate's and… Haku's…" When the _'Haku's'_ finished echoing about, a piece of paper appeared before him. The simple word, Seal, inscribed upon it. At the bottom right hand corner, was a small rip edging up towards the center._

_But for some reason, the single, tiny rip seemed significant to Naruto even in his dream mind._

What…_ He thought before he voiced the rest "…is this place!" His voice continued to echo as he slowly faded into the darkness._

* * *

Then, the bright world of reality greeted him.

It was Inari's face that greeted Naruto when he woke up. "You're awake!" The kid greeted, smiling down at the genin. Standing up, Inari went to the door that lead out of the room and slid it open. "Mama, Grandpa! He's awake!" Blinking groggily, Naruto groaned and pulled a hand down over his face. Wishing he could go back to sleep, escape the guilt, depression, sorrow, and despair that he knew he should have expected upon waking up. Inari trotted back over to the futon that Naruto had been laid on. "Your sensei said it would take a few days for you to wake up. Heh, he'll be surprised to see you up so soon. Unless you're gonna fall back asleep again?"

"Don't think I can." Naruto mumbled around his hand. "How long was I out for?" Glancing out the open window revealed to the Kyuubi vessel that the sun would soon start its decent beyond the horizon.

"Since around ten in the morning." Inari said, kneeling by the bed. Naruto shot him a look from between two fingers.

"That can't be right." Naruto said.

"Grandpa set out for work around six thirty. You woke up not to long after. Me an' the villagers came to the bridge around nine." Naruto blinked at the boy from behind his hand.

"You timed all that?"

"Mama did. She's very 'by-the-clock.' Or at least that's what Grandpa says…" Inari shrugged and pulled his hat further down his head just as Tsunami, Inari's mother and Tazuna's daughter, came in with a tray of food.

"Naruto! It's good that you're up. Everyone's getting ready for a giant party today in celebration of Gato's death. The council, who's pulling the whole thing together, will be pleased to hear that you're awake. Your sensei should be in soon to see how you are." After setting the tray down by Naruto, she left the room with a 'eat up!' called back to him.

"Party?" Naruto asked Inari as he pushed himself up and pulled the tray onto his lap.

"Yeah! You won't believe how excited everyone is! Its gonna be great!" Inari leaned forward. "They're making booths like in a carnival, lights are being brought out. More food and drinks then I knew the entire city put together had… it'll cost a lot… yeah… but it'll be worth it. We haven't had anything to celebrate for ages! Or any reason to have fun! An-" Inari was cut off as Kakashi slid open the door and hobbled in. He was back on the crutches and seemed tired.

"Hey Inari." Kakashi greeted. "Do you mind? I need to speak with Naruto for a bit." The boy nodded and left the room, letting Kakashi pull up a chair by the futon.

"How's Sasuke and Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, taking a sip of the miso soup.

"Sakura is fine, doting on Sasuke of course. She's a little shaken about the whole bridge battle. But I'm sure it's mostly because she thought Sasuke had almost died then anything else. Sasuke has a bed in another room. Tazuna thought you two could recover better if you had your own rooms. Sasuke took the room Sakura had been in, and she's sleeping downstairs next to where we eat."

Naruto nodded, and after finishing off the miso got started on the rice. While there was no ramen, a fact that normally would greatly disappoint him, he didn't have the heart to either feel sorry for himself, or ask for ramen. "How's his injury from Haku's needles?" He asked, remembering Sasuke's needle riddled body.

"When Tazuna brought you back here earlier today, I stayed behind with Sasuke at the bridge to remove the needles from his body. In his state, it would have hurt him to be carried, and if he walked it would have been hard with how the needles went through his body."

"Is that so?" Naruto asked. Looking into the cup of green tea he was now drinking from.

Kakashi paused for a second, not completely sure about how to broach on the subject about Kyuubi. While the Hokage had assured Kakashi that the boy knew of the demon inside of him, the jonin was still unsure how to bring it up. Having his own painful memories of the fox only made it harder. "Naruto, during the battle, when Zabuza's mist was up and you were fighting Haku, did something happen to…" He paused. Then plunged forward. "…to cause the seal to slip or crack? And if so, what happened, how did that affect you, and is it fixed?"

"I though Haku had killed Sasuke." That lost look appered in the blonds eyes again. "And I… snapped. In my anger, I think the seal might have slipped a bit. There was chakra… a lot of it… blo-" Naruto winced as the memory of his blood stained hands assaulted his mind. "Blood red, fierce… I'd call it savage, but that seems to… it just isn't the right word. The needles in my body went flying out, and the wounds healed quick. I moved fast, deflected some needles, caught Haku, and punched him through a mirror. The mirror broke, and let me leave the prison. Haku's mask fell… and I recognized him as the kid I met really early today before I came back and fell asleep. I calmed down, and I think that the seal settled back into place, and we talked for a bit."

Naruto swallowed, suddenly feeling chocked up. "Then?" Kakashi urged.

"He… he asked me to kill him." Naruto said quietly. "I asked him if there was no other way, and he said no. He said that he had no purpose, since Zabuza had no need for a weak shinobi. He told me about how he came to be with Zabuza. Then he told me to kill him again. I rush at him… and…………. I killed him." Naruto noted that his sleeves were stained with blood still. And that there was still some blood on his hands. "Then the mist cleared up and… well, you know what happened then."

Indeed, Kakashi did remember what happened. But he also remembered when Naruto had thrown a kunai further, faster, and stronger then even some jonin could, much less someone Naruto's age and rank. "Is that the only time Kyuubi's chakra, strength, or speed effected you?"

Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but the sensation of fingers caressing his mind seemed to reorganize his thoughts… making him think better about it he drank more of the tea. "No. It was only that time in the Ice Mirrors of Haku's." Naruto said.

That… _caress_, ceased. But not in the bad way, more like whatever it was approved.

Kakashi nodded. "Is there anything you want to tell me?" He asked. "Something you might want to talk about?"

"Does it always feel like this?" Naruto asked quietly. So quietly, Kakashi almost didn't hear him.

"Does what always feel like?" Kakashi asked, idly nudging one of the crutches lying on the floor with his toe as he leaned back further against the chair.

"Killing someone… does it always fill you with such despair… sorrow?" Even if he was called a genius, Kakashi wasn't sure how to best answer the question.

"Haku? It may be because you knew him from before. Or how well you got to know him from the battle. It could be because you knew he was only a victim of circumstance. It could be many things. But no, for me at least, killing normally doesn't make you feel like that. If it does, maybe the person shouldn't be a ninja." Shrugging his shoulders, Kakashi picked up his crutches and left. Passing Inari who entered the room when Kakashi left.

* * *

"Sasuke-kun, do you want some more tea?" Sakura asked, holding up the tea pot. _It's like we're a married couple. Uchiha Sakura…_ She though dreamily. _'Till death do us part._ Inner Sakura added, pumping a fist into the air.

"No." Sasuke said. Sakura ignored what he said, still lost in her day dream, and poured more tea. Glancing at the boy again, she let out a deep sigh at the sight of the bandages covering most of his visible flesh.

_Sasuke-kun is so strong…and handsome!_

Sasuke looked up as Kakashi hobbled into the room and sat down at the table. "How is the dead-last?" Sasuke asked.

"Who?" Sakura snapped back to reality. Placing down the tea kettle.

"Naruto." Kakashi told her. Formulating his answer. As his teammates, Sakura and Sasuke deserved to know about Naruto's condition, just not about the Kyuubi portion of it.

"He is alright, isn't he?" Sakura questioned. Running a finger around her teacup's rim.

"Physically he's all healed. Emotionally, right now, he's still sort of in a state of shock. How the battle affected his mental stability though, I'm not sure how he is. It worries me."

"Why?" Sakura questioned. "We were all there. And we are all fine, besides. This is Naruto we're talking about, he's a bit dense and he's also known for springing back instantly. Besides, Gato wasn't anyone worth feeling bad over."

"Turns out it _was_ Naruto who had killed Haku." Kakashi answered. Sasuke and Sakura looked up at him sharply. "Apparently, Naruto and Haku had met earlier today, when Naruto was training." Looking at Sasuke, Kakashi saw the boy nod.

"Yah, the same person we fought on the bridge was the boy from this morning." Sasuke said. Remembering seeing the bodies of Haku, Gato, and Zabuza when they were brought back to the city and recognizing the body of the boy whom Naruto had been talking to when the Uchiha had gone to collect his teammate earlier.

"The boy, apparently, had asked Naruto to kill him. And Naruto complied. But it's having some affects on him."

"What about Gato?" Sakura asked.

"Naruto didn't talk much about it." Kakashi told her.

"Hn." After a moment, Sasuke stood up, pushing the chair back as he did so. "He still up in the room?" The genin asked his jonin sensei. Kakashi nodded as he pulled out his book from his utility pouch.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked. Standing up too.

"He's probably going to check on Naruto, to try and find out how Naruto managed to beat Haku when Sasuke himself couldn't do it." Kakashi responded from behind his perverted book.

"Wait for me! Sasuke-kun!" Sakura raced after the boy, who had only just left the room.

"Just as they were finally learning about teamwork too." Sighing, Kakashi turned the page and a blush stained the skin above his mask at the words written on the paper before him. "This probably set them back to step one."

* * *

Naruto looked up from his conversation with Inari, which mostly consisted of the younger boy talking about the celebration and Naruto adding a comment here or there. Sasuke had his hand braced on the sliding door, regarding Naruto with expressionless eyes. Sakura peered around the Uchiha to glance at Naruto. "Inari," Sasuke spoke, "We need to speak to Naruto."

"I'm getting kicked out again?" Inari grumbled as he left the room. The two other genin entered the room. Sakura knelt by Naruto's futon, and Sasuke leaned against the wall after closing the door. Still regarding Naruto.

"Ummm." Sakura fiddled with her hands in her lap. "How are you, Naruto?" Mentally beating herself over the head for the lame question, asked in front of Sasuke no less!

"What does it matter?" Naruto asked, not in the state of mind or heart to deal with his teammates. Dropping his eyes back to the green liquid in the cup in his hands, Naruto couldn't help but see the blood still staining his hands. Apparently, whoever had tried to clean off the blood hadn't spent more then a few seconds on the grisly task.

Blood coated the area when nails met skin, between his fingers, the web of skin between pointer finger and thumb, under his nails, around his wrists, all over.

His orange sleeves were stained too.

"We're your teammates, Naruto!" Sakura argued, "Of course it matters."

Even in his depression Naruto felt his heart swell up that his crush cared enough about him to come and visit him.

"Besides, Sasuke-kun wanted to see how you were doing. You should be grateful that he took the time to come visit you!"

Only be feel himself falling back into depression again.

Sasuke mentally rolled his eyes. _The girl is obsessed._ But he kept quiet; Sakura would probably ask Naruto the questions Sasuke himself wanted to know.

"How did you manage to kill Gato? Kakashi-sensei could have, but logically no genin should be able to throw a kunai so fast or powerful, especially over such a long distance." Sakura's book worm mind had been chewing on the question when she wasn't with Sasuke. It bugged her that Naruto managed to defeat logic, Naruto of all people!

That wasn't the question Sasuke wanted to know, but she'd probably ask it sooner or later. "Not everything can be answered by logic." Sasuke told her.

The pink hair girl blushed horribly, an awful red color from the roots of her hair all the way down her neck. Embarrassed to be corrected by her crush. "Ahhh… ummmm." Fumbling, she unconsciously fell back to the habit of being mean to Naruto when she felt uncomfortable. Turning her head around to look over her shoulder, she looked at Sasuke. "But its Naruto!" Sakura protested. "He's the worst in our whole class. That's why he was put on a team with you, Sasuke-kun, you're so smart, and strong, and amazing!"

Naruto's fist clenched around his tea cup. _Sasuke-kun, you're so amazing. _Sarcasm dripping off his mental words. _Sasuke-kun, you're so strong. Sasuke-kun, you're so smart. Sasuke-kun you're so wonderful. Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun, Sasuke-kun!'_ It did manage to do one thing though, depression was slightly nudged back.

Slightly.

"Well, maybe he could pull of killing Gato…" Sakura mused, and then turned back to Naruto. "But how did you manage to kill Haku? He was so strong! And he had such an amazing Bloodlimit. I mean, he was strong enough to almost k-k-kill Sasuke-kun." Sakura stuttered, fresh tears gathering in her green eyes at the memory. "There is no way you could have been strong enough to defeat him. Are you sure Sasuke-kun didn't defeat Haku? The attack Haku used on Sasuke-kun- like he did on Zabuza- that death like trance, seems risky. It could have made you forget about you killing Haku, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura spoke the last part to Sasuke, turning her head around to look over her shoulder. Turning her head back around to Naruto, she was so caught up in scolding the blonde that she didn't see Naruto's eyes darken.

_What the hell do you know?_ Naruto demanded in his mind. _Always assuming that you know that it's always 'Sasuke-kun.' _

Shaking his head, because the needles had gone through his body too cleanlyto cause anything but temporary weakness and make his body sore, the dark haired boy waited for Naruto's screamed out answer. Or until Sakura finished berating her other teammate, whichever came first. But if Sasuke had to bet money on it, it'd be on Naruto yelling first. But then again, with the blonde's huge crush on the pink haired girl, even Naruto's infamous loudness took a back seat. The dead-last had never put Sakura on the receiving end of his hot headedness. Sasuke glanced out the window, by Kakashi's orders, it would be a few days before he could start training again, or even learn to use his Sharingan.

"I mean really, Naruto." Sakura continued on. "Taking the credit for something you didn't… couldn't, do. We all know that you have lousy morals, creating trouble all over Konoha and annoying people, but really!" Naruto clenched his eyes shut and clamped his jaws together, even went as far as to hunch over the green tea cup. All just to shut out Sakura's accusations. "Saying that you did something you could never do, right in front of the entire city and making Kakashi-sensei believe you because he's a good person-even if he is a pervert…" _Can't believe he actually carries that book around with him even on a mission!_ Inner Sakura grumbled. "And taking Sasuke-kun's credit for killing Haku when he can't remember it. That's an all time low! Even for you!"

The sound of porcelain shattering drew both Sakura's and Sasuke's attentioncompletely to Naruto. His hands were in fists, and shards of the tea cup were digging into his skin, causing blood to trickle and add to the dried blood already on his hands. The remaining tea leak between his fingers and the bits of ceramic not cutting into his flesh fell to the tray in his lap. Naruto's eyes, open now, were glaring at the wall in front of the foot of his futon. His whole body quivering with barely suppressed rage.

"**_Shut up._**" Naruto snarled, for the briefest second, his teammates could have sworn they saw his blue eyes flicker to red and his pupils stretched into slits. But only for a second. His voicestarted from an emotionless tonethen worked its way backto its former snarl as he said, "shut up, shut up, shut up, shut the hell up!" Slanting his eyes to glare at Sakura, Naruto pulled his lips back like an animal in a snarl.

Startled, Sakura fell back from her knelling onto her rear, hands supporting her upper body so she wouldn't fall backwards anymore. "N-Naruto?" She questioned. Never, EVER, had Uzumaki Naruto, the dead last of their entire class and Konoha's number one hyperactive, loudest ninja ever raised his voice at _her_! Much less so threateningly. "Naruto? What's wrong with you?"

"Go away." His voice was toneless. His eyes moved to Sasuke, letting the top rookie know that the demand extended to him too.

Forgetting that it had been her that had gotten him so angry, Sakura reached out. "Naruto?" She recoiled when Naruto's eyes fell back on her. Other then Sasuke when she had made that comment about orphans on that first day as a team, or Ino, when Sakura had given her back the ribbon and thrust the other girls friendship back in her face, never had Sakura been on the receiving end of such anger. Such an emotion almost bordering on hate that hurt more coming from a comrade then actually, pure hate from anyone else ever could.

"I said go away!"

Naruto, who always had managed to do something stupid that would make Sakura feel better about her own lack of skills in the ninja arts- since at least she was better then him. The blonde who seemed to brush everything off and bound right back, the boy who Sakura could always count on to do anything for her because of his silly, stupid crush that he never seemed to understand would never amount to anything…

"Get OUT!"

Hearing the door slide open and Sasuke calmly leaving, Sakura lost all courage to stay in Naruto's angry presence. Scrambling gracelessly from the room, only one thought went through Sakura's head that only Inner Sakura dared actually bring forth.

_Is this really that same Naruto?_

* * *

If any mortal or demon knew where they were, they would believe themselves to be dreaming. For it's only in dreams that one can imagine that they are walking in the home of the Gods. It might have been up in the clouds, or in a valley, in a forest, or perhaps inside a mountain. The landscape outside the majestic building seemed to shift from landscape to landscape, the sky drifted from dawn to day to dusk and night continuously. Some stories of both mortal and demon origin even spoke of how this traditional styled castle was worthy of only the gods themselves. Or that it drifted up and down the river of time at its own whim.

None knew how this building came to be. Once again stories told their views on it. How it came into existence when the gods came from the chaos that originally formed nothing and everything. Or that the gods created it themselves, each pouring bits of their own divine souls into it.

It was worthy of the gods, and only the gods, that much was known about it in the end.

Right now all that mattered was taking place in the deepest chamber of the castle. Right in the center of the building and even the seemingly endless landscape that was constantly shifting, now to a plains, then to an island in the middle of a lake.

Currently, one god was storming down the halls of the castle. Perhaps, storming was putting it lightly.

Short cropped black hair, blood red eyes gleaming with a dark anger, and dressed in red and black…

…the colors of death and blood.

His knuckles were white as he made a fist, lips pressed into a thin line in agitation. _How could she?_

He was barefooted, and silent as he moved through the abandoned halls, but a dark energy shifted about his form. _How could she be so stupid!_

Rage wasn't even bothered with being concealed. Kage, the God of Shadows, had only one thought in his mind. _She screwed up everything._

The god flung open two colossal doors that lead into the center room of the Gods Castle- for lack of better name- and red eyes narrowed in anger as his gaze fell upon a group of three people.

One was the beautiful, radiant Life. One of the two head gods. She was the mother of all gods, Kage included. The other was her opposite. Death was the father of Kage and his siblings.

However, it was neither Life, nor Death that held the man's attention. But rather the woman standing before the two thrones that seated the parents of the gods.

_I knew… I **knew** she would fail!_ Kage stepped forward, the dark energy, physical shadows, above him only grew in both size and intensity. _How could **I** have been so stupid? How could I have ignored it for so long!_

"Not only," Death rumbled at the woman before him, "have you neglected you duty, but you also allowed it to move out of control badly enough for the vessel's destiny to be forever altered!" Kage stopped for a moment, the shadows about him calmed down. A brother before he was a god, he couldn't help but forget his rage to smirk. His sister was getting a verbal flaying from both the ruthless Death, and the benevolent Life. It wasn't often that both the parent gods were equally enraged at one of their children. In Kage's mind, Fuko more then deserved it. He'd been at odds with her for the last twelve years. What had started the argument? What she was being yelled at for right now. This only served to help Kage feel more avenged. She had won that fight, but today, hopefully, would be a different story.

Fuko stood proudly before her parents, she was brave, Kage gave her that. But like the wind she was the goddess of, she tended to be reckless. The shadows that surrounded him intensified in both movement and size again. And it was because she had been reckless that it had all come to this.

"**_FUKOOOOO!_**" Kage's voice broke through Life and Death's scolding. The Goddess of Wind flinched at the rage in that voice. "What the hell have you **_done_**!"

Fuko stood up straight and turned around, facing off against her brother. "What have I done?" She questioned. "I didn't do _anything_." She defended. Death looked ready to intervene, but the hand of Life's upon his caused him to look at his wife. She shook her head.

"Let us see what will become of this." She murmured to her husband.

"_Exactly_." Kage hissed at his sister. "You didn't do anything! Uzumaki Naruto was under your jurisdiction. That is what you wanted, remember? That is why you implored Mother and Father twelve years ago to that yoube the one who became the boy's patron god. And for what! You created his destiny, and you set his path-"

"As I was suppose to do." Waving a hand, Fuko summoned wind to form a chair behind her. Sitting down with all the aloofness granted to a goddess, she regarded her brother coolly, calming down.

"Since the beginning you have made his path too narrow to leave him unsupervised. As his patron god, it was your duty to insure that he stayed on the path you set for him." While no longer yelling, Kage's voice dropped to its regular level, but that only made the dark rage within it much greater. "From the beginning you knew that if you were not constantly shoving him away from the edges of his fated path, something like this would happen."

"I never imagined it would be to this magnitude!" Fuko shrieked, thumping a fist on the armrest of her wind chair. Enraged that Kage was insinuating that she was incompetent at her task. Much less one of watching over a mere mortal.

"Enough, Kage, Fuko." Both siblings turned to Life. She looked disapprovingly at them. "Kage, it is not your place to tell Fuko how to handle the boy. The Kyuubi's vessel is under her jurisdiction, not yours. We told you not to interfere with the boy in any way, shape, or form. Demon vessels and half demons- since they are rare and have unique abilities that full blooded mortals or demons do not have- must be put under the jurisdiction of a god. That patron god sets the path that the vessel or half breed must take to the destiny that your father and I help choose. Not just to insure balance, but to keep us gods in power so we can insure that the world of demons and mortals survives."

Fuko turned a smug face towards her brother.

"Fuko." Life started. "You, however, were in error. The boy's path was akin to walking the edge of a knife. If he overstepped even the slightest, his destiny would not be reached. You're desire to micromanage the boy from the start was what made you make his path thus. Though it is your first time holding such jurisdiction over anyone, you let your pride and arrogance cloud your judgment. If you had left margin for error or unwanted surprises, the Kyuubi vessel would not be walking on a knifes edge, but have room to grow, mature, and learn on his own."

"So what should I do about it now?" Fuko snapped. Kage sat back, the shadows forming a chair behind him, a writhing mass of solid black vapors that flowed like liquid but were as sound as any solid.

"The vessel killed, he should have not done something like this for many years. He killed a person he knew, when it was to have been someone he had never seen before. He moved fast enough because you failed to watch to insure that he would not pull off something surprising like that."

"What am I suppose to do?" Fuko demanded, standing up. "Baby-sit him? I have other duties then to watch the brat!"

"As we told you when you first demand that we give you jurisdiction over him." Life commented. "But you said you could handle him and you other duties as the Goddess of Wind. It was your choices along the boys life that lead his path to narrow so significantly to the point it is now. No longer can the destiny we planned for him be reached. Because you left no room for a mistake." She listened to her daughter defend herself for a few minutes before she raised her hand for silence. "Kage, what do you have to say?"

"Fuko screw up." Leaning forward, the Shadow God glanced over at his sister. "Naruto would never have known that there was a god pulling for him. At the height of his life he was still to be whispered about as a monster. And what's worst in my mind is that never was she going to give him any benefits or gift to aid him."

"I was going to let him master that one wind jutsu-"

"Let him nothing!" Kage growled. "That was the only thing you let him do without your interference in anyway! You knew it would make you look good if Naruto so easily mastered such a powerful wind jutsu when his patron goddess is the Wind Goddess." Looking to Life and Death he spoke. "The path she put Naruto on is one that will make him improve only the moment he needs to, and only enough to win or survive. She leaves only the slightest margin for him to evolve his own personality, then that's that. He can't mature on his own." Standing up, Kage fully turned to Fuko. "Then she leaves him alone for five mortal minutes, and already he strays too far off his path for any god to set him back upon it." Glancing up at Death and Life, Kage sighed. "He has potential, he has the ability to become and do so much more then you are letting him. Even on his own, with no influence from any god!"

"His destiny was to indirectly protect the same artifact the Kyuubi was protecting." Fuko barked. Slamming herself down into her seat, she played with the wind forming the left armrest in agitation. Sulking like a child rather then acting like a god. Kage looked to her.

"Why have him protect it indirectly?" Kage asked. Curiosity chewed at him until he glanced back up at his parents.

"Fuko insisted that it be indirectly, rather then directly." Death finally spoke up. "But then again, all of this anger over the boy isn't because he's a vessel or because he has so much potential, is it?" Glowing eyes settled on Kage. "It's because of Kyuubi, isn't it?"

Kage clenched his fists and he glared at the ground under his feet. His jaw locked harsh words into his mouth until he had control of his emotions. "Kyuubi **deserves** better then this. He did so much for us, and this is how we repay him? For centuries, he has guarded the Sacred Shadow Scroll. Guarded the scroll that you yourselves deemed to dangerous to be left unattended, yet to important to be destroyed. Kyuubi has sacrificed much and has lost much guarding the Scroll. He let us bind him to the Scroll so it could remain better protected."

Death was about to tell his son to be silent, but his wife squeezed his hand. "Shhhh, for what he says is the truth. Perhaps we should listen to reason?" She whispered to her husband so only he could hear. "Kage is right; Fuko does not allow the boy to improve unless it's just enough to survive some fights and win others. And were you not talking earlier about how the Nine Tails being sealed away was perhaps not the best thing to be done? Even you can not break the seal you made, so we cannot release the kitsune. Kage is onto something, the fox's vessel might hold the answers to our problems. All our problems." Death nodded, touching his stomach where a soul resided that had offered itself up in order to seal away the Kyuubi no Kitsune into the body of young Uzumaki Naruto. Because he had taken the payment of the Fourth Hokage's soul, Kyuubi could never be released from the vessel that held it, not even by a god. Even upon death the two would be forever bound together.

"Very well." Death nodded to his wife. Looking towards the two gods, Shadow and Wind, he shook his head. "Leave us. Your mother and I must speak to one another about this matter further in private. Go about your duties, we will summon you when its time."

Kage nodded and stood up just as Fuko did.

"Oh, Kage?" Life started. "After today, you are not allowed to be in the castle for five decades time unless your father or I allow it or it is an emergency."

Dark brows shot up. "Why!" Kage asked.

"We felt you touch the Kyuubi vessel's mind earlier today. Not just touch it, but influence it." Death watched as his son flinched. "The boy is not under your jurisdiction, he is off limits to influences by other gods except for his patron god, your mother and myself. Do not disobey me like that again."

Kage nodded stiffly and ignored the smug Fuko as they left. Though he still didn't regret 'influencing' Naruto about not telling Kakashi about using the Kyuubi's strength when the boy killed Gato. _Some things are better left unsaid…it is best to keep that little secret just that, a secret._

* * *

Sakura sighed, pleased for finally having a reason to use all that makeup she had dragged with her all the way from Konoha. After adding one last coat of blush, and some final touch ups to the lipstick, eye liner, eye shadow, and mascara she had used, she took one last searching gaze through the mirror_. I wonder if Sasuke-kun will like the color of my lipstick… maybe I should go for a lighter color, to match my hair color._ Looking over a rather sizable collection of make up that was laid out on the bathroom counter before her, Sakura shook her head. Sasuke always wore darker colors. Obviously he liked them better. _Sasuke-kun is defiantly the dark and mysterious type_! Inner Sakura chirped.

Carefully packing up her makeup, Sakura sighed as her eyes drifted to look at her forehead in the mirror. Not touching it, because that would cause oils from her hands to get on her face that would cause zits later; she inspected her least favorite body part.

Finding that there was nothing she could do to fix it, Sakura zipped up the bag that held all her make-up and other toiletries. Adjusting the red dress like outfit she always wore for missions and training, and checking to be sure her Leaf head band was secure, she left the bath room. Passing an excited Inari as the boy rushed past her to get ready for the celebration tonight. Listening to her own feet making noise on the wood floor, Sakura put the toiletry bag with the rest of her stuff and met up with the others down stairs.

Kakashi was using his crutches for support as he read his book, giggling at random intervals. Tazuna was laughing at something Tsunami had said. Sasuke was standing apart from the group. Sakura skipped over to him. "Hello Sasuke-kun!" Looking around, Sakura spotted Naruto already putting on his sandals. Inari rushed down the stairs and ran straight to the blonde.

"Since we're all here, let's get going to the celebration!" Tazuna said, pulling on his own sandals and starting off, Inari on his heels and Naruto trudging behind.

* * *

Reviews: Shit! Twenty three reviews for ONE chapter! That's amazing! Thank you all so much, hopefully I'll be able to answer your questions. Down here.

KupoKupoKupo: My first reviewer for this story! I love you! Thanks for your review. And don't worry, I need Sasuke alive! He is a vital part of shaping Naruto.

Le1: Really? I thought the last chapter could have used more work… but I guess its better then this one…

Uchihaprodigy: Heh, thanks. The idea has been bugging me since Haku grabbed Naruto's arm during their fight and told Naru-chan that he 'couldn't die yet.' I always wondered how that would have affected the boy if he did manage to kill Haku.

madnarutofan: Naruto killed Gato because his was a bit emotional at the time, and yah, kinda for vengeance too. It will change Naruto's outlook a bit. But nowhere in the storyline do I ever remember Naruto not understanding Sasuke's need for vengeance. I think he just didn't care for how the Uchiha was going about it.

Yum2: No need to fear. There will be no Sasu/Saku except in Sakura's mind. And let's face it, after this chapter; do you really think Naruto could really get together with Sakura? I already have a pairing in mind too…

DFIRE314: Yup! Actually sometime within the next few chapters Naruto will actually see the fox. And don't worry, I need Sasuke alive. I'll try and update sooner also from now on.

Demonfox04: I always thought killing someone would cause a great change in Naruto's attitude and overall outlook on life. A much needed one.

Wrath-of-air: Thanks, I'll try and start updating more often. But school really sucks, and my English class already has us doing this pain-in-the-ass project that takes up more then the first semester! It's insane!

Kyuzo: Thanks! I'm glad you liked it! )

Sancho323: Naruto won't be at Garra's level for a while. Both because Garra has more practice with his demon induced abilities and also because that is a too easy for Naruto if suddenly he gets all powerful and stuff. Don't worry, he will get a bit closer to the level to use Kyuubi's powers not only when he's emotionally distressed, but it won't be much and it won't be for a while.

DarkHercules: Don't worry, there is ABSOLUTLY NO YAOI OR YURI in any way, shape, or form! If people want to write that and/or read that, go right ahead, I'm not stopping you. But I don't read it nor support it.

Kitsurumenokitsune: Really? Do you think it has potential? (Laughs and scratches head.) I just had this idea one day that wouldn't leave me alone.

Deathsyte01: Thanks, hopefully the update will be out sooner then this one.

Nasuren: I don't have much time to read many fan fictions, 'cause of school and all. I do remember reading a few that were good, but had lots of grammar errors and whatnot. I'll do my best to keep up the standard I've apparently set for myself, but this chapter was a royal pain. The next one should be better.

Silver fox: Thank you, hopefully it will stay interesting! I'll try and update sooner then this.

Alcyone-blk: Wow! Thanks. I'm glad you liked it so much. Yah, its going to affect Naruto. He really needs a reality check and the next chapter will be dedicated to that. The question is, now that he knows what being a ninja is, will that change his goals? (Evil laughter)

Viky: Thanks. I'm glad you liked it. I'm not so sure about this chapter, but I hope you like it!

Toenail: Wow! Thanks for the vote of confidence! Sadly, this chapter isn't as good as I'd like it to be, but I can't seem to figure out how to better deliver Kage and stuff. Hopefully it's not that bad…

Chaoslord Shinobi: (Laughs and ducks head to hide blush) Really? Kick-ass seems kind of strong for something that just came off the top of my head. I'll update sooner then this next time… hopefully. Naruto isn't really 'able and ready to kill.' Well, he's been trained since childhood to kill, so yah, he is able. But the whole point of killing Haku was that he was able to when no one thought that he could kill. And that he is able to do it again when he kills Gato. Even if Gato is scum, doing that will have an impact on Naruto. And having killed Haku will only present a bigger problem. Seriously? It's Kick-ass? (Blushes again)

AzureSky123: Thank you. I'm glad you liked it. Sadly, this one isn't as good, but the next one should be better.

Skuld's Sentaro 5: Well, Sakura was too emotional at the time to actually take note of Naruto killing Gato. Remember, when Sasuke is around she tends to put all else aside. Think of how she'd act if she thought Sasuke had died then suddenly he was alive again. She'd be too wrapped up in her 'Sasuke-kun' world to really take note at the time. And the fog from Zabuza's jutsu was up, so she couldn't see Naruto kill Haku, nor was there any direct connection at the time that she could tell. Don't worry, there will be romance. But it'll take awhile.

Martial Master: He knew that it was going to be unavoidable one day (I hope, if he didn't, that would be really sad) but it wouldn't be right to have him not hesitate about killing. He might a bit before killing someone, but he also knows that now he always has that blood on his hands. Glad you like the story so much!

Really unbelievable! So many reviews for one chapter! I'm on cloud nine! I hope I answered all you questions and concerns.

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SilverNinjaHikaru over and out!


	3. Haku's Legacy

Summery: Haku lay dead at his feet, killed by Naruto's own hand. Looking upon the face of a person he had respected, Naruto knew what being a true shinobi meant. But as the vessel of the Kyuubi was soon to find out, life was full of challenges, especially his. And killing Haku would cause much to change from its original path.

Rating: PG-13, for swearing, fighting, ext.

Disclaimer: Last time looked at the cover of Naruto I saw the words 'Story & Art by Masashi Kishimoto.' Not Story and Art by SilverNinjaHikaru. Does that tell you something? Plus, I can't draw that well. So if there was a 'Naruto by SilverNinjaHikaru' it would have been a piece of fiction.

_**Pairings:**_

There will be NO male/male and female/female pairings. There will also be NO naruto/hinata. Also there is **NO** NARUTO/SAKURA pairing, ONLY friendship.

**_Updates…:_**

Wow. (Looks up at display that reads when last update was) Shit. It's been that long! I'm so sorry! Forget Kyuubi, school is a demon! And to be truthful, every Friday I always rush home to work on the next chapter… but I always find someway better to do it and I have to start over, then the whole process starts over. I can't promise that it'll never take me this long again, but I sure don't want it to take any longer then you guys do! But would you rather have crappy chapters every week, or decent ones? Plus, I really, really hate this and the second chapter. It's both a filler chapter and needed to convey some info that will come into play later. I still hate these chapters though. The first chapter and one ones after this are the really story, and I can't wait to get this chapter out of the way. Just think of the first three chapters as a very long prologue.

* * *

Shadow of Kyuubi

Chapter III

Haku's Legacy

* * *

They were actually _congratulating_ him.

Before the first half and hour had passed, Naruto had been congratulated by at least every person in the city twice… or so it seemed to the poor demon vessel. Girls would stutter a 'thank you' and blush. Boys shook his hands and muttered their compliments. Women hugged him so tightly that he couldn't breath. Men clapped him on the back and those who had been present during the battle recounted fondly about how his kunai 'slid into Gato's head like a razor sharp sword through calm waters,' or something like that. Old women cooed over his whisker like scars on his face that they had dubbed 'battle scarred cheeks.' And the old men recounted stories from their glory days while trying to out shout the other old men, and fend off the bitter truths that they never were samurai or ninja, but just simple fishermen, which were thrown at them from the same old men who also tried to out shout them.

It was ridiculous, they were actually _congratulating_ him.

Every congratulation, complement or even a simple 'thank you' that he received made him feel like huge walls were pressing in on him, choking him. It all threatened to consume him as more and more people awed over his defeat of the mask wearing boy and Gato, which Tazuna was retelling despite not seeing Naruto's battle against Haku. Inari too boasted to the kids who once teased him how his 'Naruto nii-san' was so cool. More compliments, more congratulations, more stories being created about him during the battle then the rest of Team Seven combined. Each and everything making him feel sicker and sicker until he was amazed he hadn't vomited his insides out yet, much less not even thrown up at all.

The moment attention slipped away from him for a moment- he didn't know why and really didn't care- Naruto slipped back into a dark dead-end ally and used chakra to run up the side of a building and get away, leaving his orange jacket behind on the seat he had been sitting in since he arrived at the celebration. The dried blood encrusted sleeves made him feel both sick and filled with self-loathing every time they stiffly rubbed over his wrists.

The main street of the city of Wave, Naruto still didn't know the city's name, was the heart of the celebration. Or perhaps festival was the right word. Booths were set up with games, others with food and drink. It was amazing that the people pulled this all together in just less then a day. Families were walking together, laughing in bliss for the first time in a long time. Lanterns dug out of storage were strung up and cast a merry glow on the people who finally had hope and pride again.

All because of that ninja team from Konohagure no Sato. Especially because of the boy dressed in orange that had saved Tsunami and Inari, helped scare off the group of mercenaries, and killed one of the two ninja trying to kill Tazuna _and_ had also killed Gato.

All because of Uzumaki Naruto.

Who was running away from the party because he couldn't stand being at a celebration for Haku's death. Much less the celebration of Haku's death by Naruto's hand.

Winding down many one of the manystreets people had abandoned for the celebration, Naruto took in deep gulping breaths until he managed to quell the twisting of his stomach and press back against the walls that were closing in on him since the first 'congratulation' had slipped past a kids lips no older then Konohamaru. The awe in the boy's eyes as he spoke, the wide-eyed expression of hero-worship…

Finally when he was far enough from the celebration to be unable to hear the loud partying, he collapsed against a wall, eyes wide as memories, half finished thoughts, and hundreds of emotions circulated through him in a blur. Spinning faster and faster. He yanked his hands up towards his face to try and gain some handhold in the chaos, something to insure he wouldn't be swept away...

His hands stopped inches before his face just as the chaos inside of him ceased. Though he had scrubbed his hands raw in the bathroom once Sakura and Sasuke had left, it was all to easy for his mind to bend to his guilt and despair, leaving the view of his hands overlaid with the image already branded into his memory; his hands earlier that day covered in Haku's blood.

"Damn." Naruto dropped his arms in favor of using them to pull his knees to his chest. He dropped his head to rest on his knees, the metal plate from the hati-ate pressed against the joints. Blue eyes squeezed shut in an attempt, and failing, to stop the tears from falling down his face. "Damn it…" he cursed himself more then the emotions tearing him apart. Cold night air brushed the wet tracks on his scarred cheeks as the genin sat there, just letting the tears fall.

It was then that the final connection to the destiny he would have had before was cut. Haku's death had only been a way to prod Naruto towards another path. Gato's had insured that a gate locked the old path behind him, leaving Naruto faced with a new path that was also locked. Now the key was to be presented to the lock, now nothing- no human, demon, or even god- could put things back to the way they were. Not when Uzumaki Naruto, genin of Konohagure no sato from Fire Country, and vessel of Kyuubi no Kitsune, was to met for the first and last time the one who would ultimately be responsible for all the events that followed just from this one and only meeting.

"I hope you're not going to cry your eyes out about the whole thing."

Naruto's head shot up, tears running down his face still and hints of snot wetting under his nose. The darkness kept Naruto from getting a good view of the person, male by the voice, before him. Rubbing his bare arms to try and chase away the chill, Naruto sniffed to keep the stuff nearly hanging out of his nose from doing so. "Go away." The blunt words did well to hide his own emotions. Naruto swiped at his eyes and nose to attempt to wipe his face clean. The stranger seemed not to have heard him; in fact he bent at the waist so his head was roughly level with Naruto's and narrowed eyes pierced through the boy's soul.

"So…you're Uzumaki Naruto?" The man asked not out of question but rather skepticism. "I overestimated you," his face holding both an unknown question and disappointment. With a sigh, the man pulled his hand down over his face and muttered quietly into his palm while Naruto looked at the closed eyes through the spaces of the mans fingers, hearing the comment that the man asked himself, "how could someone like you not just hold, but utilize, Kyuubi?"

Naruto's skin paled as his eyes snapped open in contrast to his pupils as they retracted to pinpricks of fear. "H-how do you know?" The vessel stammered. He shifted as far away from the man as the wall would allow. "Wh-who are y-you?" The man straitened, not hearing the boy again. The stranger crossed his arms on his chest.

_Damn… what the hell are you thinking Shinigami?_ The man looked down on the boy as he through about the death god. _Letting yourself be summoned all those years ago to seal the Kyuubi… into a kid who was a baby at the time! Now…_ the man fiddled with something in the pocket of his black and red clothing. _Now I'm not so sure this idea will work… it on top of everything else he's been going through could cause him to have a mental break down._ The man's eyes drifted down to the boy's stomach and narrowed into ruby slits, making the cat like pupils turn into a bar of black in the middle of the glowing iris. With all but a few of his most basic powers sealed by Shinigami as punishmentthe most he could do was see the seal as it was holding the Kyuubi.

Naruto dropped his arms to cover his stomach, suddenly feeling as if his shirt was doing a poor job against this person.

_Damn… it's cracking,_ the black and red clad man thought. _Now the question is if or if not this kid can hold the seal together. _He snapped to attention when the boy spoke. "What? I didn't hear you."

"What is so interesting about my gut that you didn't hear me for the last couple of minutes?" Naruto demanded, wiping away more moisture from his eyes, irritated at this person. "How do you know about Kyuubi!" While this person had been deep in though Naruto had tried to figure out that mystery, the man didn't look like he was from Konoha, so he couldn't be one of the adults who knew about Naruto being the vessel of the demon.

The stranger backed up a few steps, and Naruto hastily scrambled to his feet so he'd have some way of fighting back if this meeting were to get any worst then it already was.

_Kid has spirit…_ The man grinned. "How do I know of Kyuubi?" The man repeated the question, amused.

"How do you know of it?" Naruto hissed, edging along the wall slowly to open up more of an escape route.

Annoyed that the Kyuubi had been degraded into an 'it', the man glared down at the boy. "I know because I knew _him_." The man stressed the last word. Glowing red eyes with slits for pupils, so like the Kyuubi's, drifted to look at the cloth covering the place of the seal from sight.

"So why are you here talking to me?" Naruto demanded, voice filled with nervousness. He tugged the hem of his navy blue shirt down even though it covered the place where the man was staring at. "And who are you?"

"I didn't come here originally to talk to you." The man said. He reached into his pocket again. _I don't know why you kept this thing for so long Shinigami… but we all better hope this thing works on demon containers like it did on normal humans so long ago… _he was snapped out of his thoughts when Naruto, seeing the man reach into his pocket, took this as his cue to take off.

Naruto was barley just starting to move away at full speed when he felt a large hand grab him by the middle of his upper arm. The other hand that had been in the pocket on the black and red clothing pulled out a strange black stone that was smooth all around except for the kanji for shadow that was carved out of it. The man pressed the stone to the flesh right above where his other hand held the boy still. For a brief moment all was quiet, red eyes with slit pupils locked with blue eyes withround pupils.

Then Naruto stiffened.

The physical agony was overruling all else, even his reaction to it through screaming was ignored as the pain made him feel like his nerves were being scorched and his flesh boiled. He felt both the hand and the strange black stone pull away, letting him drop to the ground. Before he blacked out because of the pain the last thing he remembered was the stranger quietly and calmly say "If you ever meet up with Kyuubi tell him Kage say's 'Hi.'"

After he lost conscious for the second time that day, he witnessed that piece of paper floating in that black world again. And he saw the rip grow bigger, now running half way from the bottom right hand corner up to the kanji for 'seal.'

The only time Kage and Naruto met will always be remembered by Naruto. Because on that single day, everything changed. Or didn't it? The funny thing about life is, you never know. But Naruto, with events that he barely understood that lead up to this final moment of stumbling home in more pain then he had ever experience in his short life, would indeed change.

* * *

Sakura clutched the stuffed animal cat one of her admirers from the boys her age who lived in the city had given her. It had taken her a while, but she finally managed to politely excuse herself from his and the other kids their age presence and headed into the shadows between two food stands to rest for a moment. Sitting on a chair placed conveniently hidden away from any casual glance, Sakura clutched the cat for comfort as she leaned back into the chair.

A familiar orange jacket pressed into her back as it rested flung over the backing of the chair. It only served as a reminder for why Sakura had been plunging through the crowds since Tazuna, the city mayor, and Kakashi all started up a drinking contest and for a brief moment took the attention away from her blonde teammate by the crowed who had trapped him while they thanked him personally for killing Gato and congratulating him for defeating one of the enemy ninja. When the shock of the _mayor_ participating wore off and the people of Wave turned back to their hero, they found him gone.

Sakura would be lying if she said she felt only a little worried. Standing up and grabbing the orange jump suit jacket, the pink haired girl took one fortifying breath before she plunged back into the masses of celebrating people. Intent on finding her teammate.

_This isn't that same Naruto,_ it was Outer Sakura who voiced it this time.

* * *

Naruto didn't know how he managed to get to Tazuna's house. He just knew when he woke up that he needed to get back, and he had crawled for a long time through the pain until his body was mostly numbed by it and the cold air that he managed to ignore the pain long enough to get to his feet and stagger the rest of the way. After making it into his own room, the blonde just barely had the strength to shut the door before he collapsed back into his futon. This wouldn't have been as hard as it was now even if he was in a world of pain, if his right arm had been working.

_Whatever that stone like thing had been was more then just a rock with some kanji carved out of it,_ Naruto finally deducted. Naruto bit his lip to keep from crying out in pain as he used his left arm to grope through his backpack to find some bandages. Once he had them, he messily wrapped up his other arm as best he could when it was unable to move, and used a metal clip to hold it together. Wiping off the blood he got on his hand during the process, Naruto pulled the blankets up over him and was out in moments.

He was unaware that half an hour later Sakura finished climbing the stairs and halted outside Naruto's room. The door was shut, meaning that the person was inside and probably asleep.

That shut door could symbolize so many things at that moment. Naruto shutting her out of his life because of what she had said, that was her main thought at the moment._ 'That's an all time low! Even for you!'_ Inner Sakura snipped, throwing her own words back at her. Naruto always alone, orphaned, and no friends except for Iruka who acted as a father/older brother like figure to the boy. Then there was a simpler symbol that closed door presented.

Pressing her ear to the door, Sakura heard the even breaths of sleep. She wanted to talk to him now, to try and fix this mess she had created. But she didn't want to wake him up. Partly to let him get the sleep he deserved and probably needed. Partly because she didn't want to face that other Naruto again, he one who had scared her out of this very room earlier.

_I'll talk to him tomorrow._ She turned and left.

That closed door seemed to symbolize something else though, something she knew she should have figured out.

* * *

_**The Next Morning:**_

Morning light would have greeted Naruto should he have been able to notice it when he woke. But more pressing things shoved their way to the surface that even the sun shining down on the boy's face couldn't stand up against.

A… stretched feeling pulled at Naruto. Like there was something that should be with him that was not. It was a strange sensation, and an even stranger sensation of the urgency to get to that something filled him.

Once he managed to push that aside, made both a harder and an easier task with the fact that it was only a recent sensation and that he didn't know what the something was, another- much more familiar- sensation assaulted him.

Pain.

He gritted his teeth as the sensation swept over him then fizzled away until only a shadow, still painful but at least it was manageable, of the pain remained. Looking out the side of his eyes, Naruto glanced at his right arm.

_Damn… so that wasn't a dream._ Resigning to the fact, the boy prepared to push himself up.

His right arm wouldn't move. The little movement it could pull off made his entire body scream in pain. His body fell back down as the left arm that had been holding him up gave way to the advances of pain. He clamped his jaws shut to seal a cry of pain in his mouth, biting his tongue in the process. Coppery blood flavored his mouth as he strained against the pain until it eventually eased back to the shadow from before.

Now more conscious of his right arm, Naruto used his left to pull it onto his lap as slowly as possible as the pain pressed him to stop. Once his right arm was in his lap, he used his left arm to push himself up, and then stand.

His right arm falling from his lap to his side as he righted himself caused him to nearly black out in pain, his body teetered as he froze up, unable to even scream. By some miracle, he stayed standing as the pain receded again. Walking as if on egg shells, Naruto walked away from the futon, the memory of last night replaying in his mind.

'Kage,' huh? Naruto eyed the air before him as if expecting that stranger to jump out again from nowhere.

Naruto shook his head, careful to insure that it was the only part of him that moved. Last night he had been too pained to do more then sloppily wrap the bleeding wound on his arm. Now he needed to look at it, to see what that 'Kage' had done to his arm. But removing his shirt without moving his one arm would be impossible, and Naruto didn't feel like falling victim to more pain.

Snatching up a stray kunai, the genin cut his shirt off, thankful that he had brought along more extra then he originally though he needed. One the tatters of his blue shirt gathered at his feet, he carefully fumbled with the bandages. Pausing once in a while when he accidentally moved his unresponsive arm and a wave of pain washed over him.

Once the right arm was free, Naruto turned so he could view whatever damage was done in the mirror. Why hasn't it healed yet? One night is what it had always taken before…

Naruto expected the smear of blood all up and down his arm, and using his ruined shirt and water from his water bottle still in his backpack he c-a-r-e-f-u-l-l-y cleaned it off.

Naruto didn't expect the only damage to be done to his arm was only a tattoo like marking. Colored in a foreboding black, the kanji that meant shadow was marked on his arm just a bit more then halfway up his right upper arm. It looked like the ANBU tattoo, just on the opposite arm and of course it was a different marking, perhaps it wasn't even a tattoo.

"What the hell is this?" The boy asked. Scrutinizing the mark in the mirror, he noticed something else. Leaning forward to better examine the reflection revealed a scar no thicker then a hair running from the tattoo like mark up the rest of his arm until it met his torso. Once that connection was made the scar plunged down his chest past his ribcage until the scar stopped at his navel.

Right where the Kyuubi's seal would be visible if the boy was channeling chakra. "What happened to me?" Naruto traced the scar from his navel to the marking. He never scared, no matter what. And since being told of the Kyuubi, Naruto figured that the Kyuubi healed everything he had ever suffered before. He had only noticed it because he had been looking for any kind of discrepancy with his body.

Growling, Naruto dug through his bag trying to find his jacket, since it wasn't on the floor. But when the backpack was empty and no stained jacket was revealed Naruto groaned with realization.

_I left it at the celebration…_

Pulling the only chair in the room over to the window, Naruto leaned against the wall so his right side was hidden, and his shoulder supported the weight of his body. Leaning his head against the corner of the wall before it was cut out to make a place for the window's glass; Naruto gazed out at the water that surrounded Tazuna's house as it gently lapped at the wooden supports that held the house above the water. Haku's voice playing over in his head.

'_And I was forced to accept it. That was the most painful thing… Accepting that I was alone in the world. Superfluous. Unwanted. Shunned.'_

"Naruto 'nii-san?" Came Inari's voice. The little boy let himself in, shutting the door behind him.

"Hey, Inari."

The Wave country boy frowned at the exhaustion and sorrow in the voice of his hero. At the utter defeat a simple greeting revealed. And that scared the boy. Naruto had been so brave, so strong, so amazing. Now he looked ready to give up. "What's wrong?" the younger boy asked. "You left the party last night before people could finish thanking you."

There was that pressure pushing down around him again. Naruto pressed his eyes closed and his lips formed a thin line as he fought against that pressure again. "I didn't want it… I couldn't take it… I hadn't done anything to deserve it." Naruto said, voice a little louder then his greeting to the boy had been, but filled with desperation as well.

'…_Do you have… anyone special in you life...? I'm willing to do whatever it takes… to protect the one I care about most… doing so is my own dream…'_

"What do you mean?" Inari asked. "You saved us! You gave us our hope and pride back! You saved Grandpa! It was you who killed the ones who were threatening us, you protected us!" Inari was standing right in front of the topless Naruto and prodded him in the chest with a finger. "You're our hero! You _do_ deserve to be thanked!"

Using his knee to support his elbow, Naruto rested his face in his left hand. Leaning away from the wall a bit. "Inari…" Naruto half croaked, half pleaded. "That's just it… I _killed_."

'_Often people have it wrong, mistakenly believing… that showing mercy to an enemy is kindness. They spare the foe whose life is in their hands… But don't you see? Its an empty existence… to go on living… alone and unloved when defeat's already cost you your dream!'_

"Why… are you so upset about Gato?" Inari asked. Startled at this revelation. Or what he thought was the revelation. Naruto's eyes flickered to the boy. Then the younger child understood, young he might be, but he was very understanding. "That other ninja? It was… Haku… right?"

Naruto nodded mutely.

"You want to talk about it, I'll listen." Inari offered. "I won't interrupt… or tell anyone."

Naruto was going to brush off the offer, but seeing Inari settle himself on the floor he figured a little talking wouldn't be so bad. "I knew him. I understood him and I liked him. He was a good person, had a kind heart. I respected him so much even when I thought he had killed Sasuke," Naruto said. He looked down at his hands. "I killed someone I respected."

'_When people are protecting something truly precious to them, they truly can become… as strong as they must be!'_

That was all he meant to say. But it didn't end there. Naruto talked and talked, pouring out his emotions, fears, and it wasn't just about Haku's death. Naruto told him- a heavily modified version to keep everything of Kyuubi and anything that held reference to what had happened after Naruto left the celebration- about other problems he had been having during the mission. Taking so long to be able to just walk up a stupid tree with chakra, and his anger at himself for not being able to improve faster just to name a few. He talked mostly about his argument with his teammates. Then he switched back to talking about Haku all throughout the other subjects.

The genin told the civilian boy about all his various interactions with Haku, when they first through he was a hunter ninja, to the morning after training, to the final battle. All in great detail- forgoing mentioning the Kyuubi- and everything he knew of the boy. 'I got to close.' Was basically what he was telling the younger boy, 'I'm half afraid I'll grow heartless or go insane if this is what being a ninja is really about.' And most importantly, 'I'm scared that I'll forget him and the ideas he had that shaped his very being… Ideals that I believe in.' He didn't say it. But Inari read underneath his words to read underneath his meanings.

'_Are you doing this for that sake of that person…or for your own satisfaction?'_

Naruto paused for a moment and took a deep breath. The person to acknowledge one who was shunned, and unwanted. Haku had Zabuza, who saw past the boy cursed with a bloodline limit. And Iruka had seen past the Kyuubi that had killed his parents and seen a fellow orphan who knew the pain of having no parents. It was the burning need to repay the person who had acknowledged him that made Haku strive to help Zabuza reach his dream. Naruto knew that if he had been Haku, and Iruka was Zabuza, Naruto would do whatever needed to help his sensei achieve his dream.

And Inari understood. 'I don't want to become a monster. Killing who ever I'm told to kill _only_ because I was told to kill them.' Inari knew. 'If it comes to killing. I want to do it to protect my home. To protect those I care about.' And he sympathized. 'I'm so scared. I'm so scared. I'm so scared…' The hidden meanings in the genin's words struck a cord in the younger boy. 'I don't want to lose myself.'

After he finished, Naruto leaned his head against the window ledge. Pressing a fist to his stomach where Kyuubi was. The urge to talk about that too threatened to spill forth, but Naruto bit his tongue. "Thanks for listening, Inari. But I really need to be alone for now," he whispered.

'_I have my own dreams… as you have yours… Please try not to resent me, but I'm willing to do whatever it takes… to protect the one I care about most… to fight, kill, or die to fulfill that person's dreams. Doing that is my own dream. To that end, I will become a true shinobi... And I shall kill you both.'_

Inari left the room and trotted down the stairs. When his mom called him to help her with something he ambled off towards her. Mind still in a daze that his hero had seemed so… human. _Daddy… you always knew what to say to make a person feel better. If you were here now, what would you say to Naruto 'nii-san?_

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

_**Later:**_

Naruto didn't want to come downstairs with his arm wrapped in bandages, which wouldpromise many questions that he didn't feel like dealing with at the moment. But he found something that was both a pleasant and disheartening surprise when he opened up his door. Folded neatly and placed to the side of the sliding door was his orange jumpsuit jacket. Apparently it had been washed and mended, judging by the lack of dirt and the somewhat sloppy stitching at the rips created during the mission. There were still blood stains at the wrists of the sleeves, but Naruto swallowed the emotions that pushed at him, thankful that he had something to cover the bandages from sight. Picking up the note that was on top of it he instantly recognized Sakura's handwriting, and she had written mostly in hiragana or katakana since Naruto hated reading kanji. The note said:

_Naruto,_

_I found this at the party last night, and tried to find you to return it but I guess you left. I asked Inari's mom to help me wash it, but the blood stains wouldn't come out. I'm glad I brought a repair kit for clothing, even if it was used only once, since it had orange thread for me to use on your jacket. I'm not that good at sewing though, so the repair work is pretty bad. I also wanted to apologize for how I acted. I hope you can forgive me and we can go back to being friends._

_Sakura_

Naruto tossed the note in his hand to the floor of his room and grabbed the jacket. While he carefully pulled it on, not keen on the idea of moving his right arm, the boy wondered at the note. Was Sakura doing this out of a peace offering, or because she really did care? While pondering this Naruto paused every so often as the pain returned, forcing him to stop and wait until the pain passed that followed his right arm moving. Deciding to take it as a peace offering that she gave him because she cared, Naruto zipped up the jacket and headed down the stairs.

Dinner was awkward, which was something of the norm since arriving here. Before the battle with the missing mist ninjas it was because everyone almost seemed to expect to be attacked at any time, or because Naruto and Sasuke were having their little rivalry over eating as much food as fast as possible to get energy so they could head back out and train before the other. Yesterday they hadn't even bothered to eat before heading off to the celebration. Today it was because of the oppressive weight that hung over them, and because now they felt the exhaustion of the fear that had been absent since the whole affair started.

After dinner everyone did their own thing like always. Tsunami with the help of her son cleaned the kitchen. Sasuke sharpened whichever of his kunai or shuriken needed it, while Sakura shifted between watching him work, trying to start a conversation with him, or just talking to him. Kakashi was reading his book, and Tazuna was sitting at the table talking with his daughter. Naruto gave up trying to sit through the strange ritual that they had all developed of staying in the dinning room/kitchen area after dinner. Standing up he went outside to walk along the deck that surrounded the bridge builder's house. Kicking a pebble that was on the deck, he watched as it leapt into the lake surrounding the house and caused ripples to blemish the smooth surface.

'_Is this the first time a comrade of yours has died…? Such is a ninja's path.'_

"Hey, brat," shook him out of his thoughts. Turing around revealed Tazuna had followed him out. Clutched in one hand was a bundle of some kind, "You've been quiet lately." Naruto didn't respond. "All right then, don't talk." Tazuna ruffled the spiky sunshine-yellow hair.

"Stop that," Naruto attempted to swat the attacking appendage aside one-handedly. Chuckling under his breath, Tazuna stepped back and raised the offending limb up in a sign of peace. Running a hand through his hair in an attempt to reverse what the bridge builder hand done, he looked at the old man in an attempt to gauge what he wanted.

"Here," Tazuna raised the bundle in his other hand and tossed it towards the boy. "'Figured it be best with you." Naruto snapped out of his suspicion in time to fumble with his left hand to grab it before it fell to the wooden dock or worst, into the lake. Hearing an all too familiar clicking mostly muffled by the leather pouch they were in told Naruto that the object- or rather objects judging by the amount of clicking- was metal. "And after overhearing your conversation with Inari earlier, I figure he probably would have wanted you to have them."

'_Didn't you tell me… that you wanted to become the number one ninja in your village and make everyone respect you? If you had someone in you life who did more then that… who acknowledged your existence- even cared for you- wouldn't that person become the most important, treasured person in you life!' Haku had his person as Naruto had Iruka-sensei. 'Master Zabuza adopted me, knowing I came from a Bloodline Limit. The very thing in me that made everyone else hate me- he didn't just overlook it. He cherished it. He wanted it!'_

_He?_ Naruto wondered, opening up the old, battered, stained and musty bag revealed to Naruto what was in it. His eyes widened as countless emotions swirled beneath their azure depths. Looking up at Tazuna he found the old man gone and looked back into the pouch, now feeling that if the contents had fallen into the lake it wouldn't have been so bad.

Dozens upon dozens of steel senbon needles were reflecting the moonlight back out of the dark confines of the leather pouch. Blood tipped the ends of many of them, dulling the gleaming reflections. Haku's senbon.

'_I was so happy…!'_

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

**_Five Days After the Battle:_**

Naruto had disappeared again.

Sakura peered into his empty room, but found no blond mass of hair. After Tazuna had gone after Naruto the other day out of view and hearing from the rest of the people who currently resided in the house. The orange clad genin had both gotten better and worst.

He had started to smile again, and laugh one in a while. But he was so much quieter when compared to the Naruto who had left Konoha. Though it was in some ways an improvement, Sakura couldn't help but miss the old Naruto. Now he hadn't pestered her for dates, or screamed challenges to Sasuke, or even declare he would be Hokage and dame whatever stood between him and that dream, not once had he done any of that.

And therein lay the problem. For as long as Sakura had known Naruto, Hokage had always been associated. In fact, since the battle on the bridge, Naruto hadn't even mentioned anything about anything related to the Hokage. It was almost as if…

Inner Sakura quietly spoke from the depths of her mind; _it's as if he's questioning his dream._

In fact, the only time Naruto acted somewhat like his old self was when he was interacting with Tazuna, Inari, or Tsunami when the rest of Team Seven wasn't participating. And there was yet another problem. Team Seven hadn't been the same since the battle.

_Kakashi-sensei sure is acting normal…_ Inner Sakura grumbled, cracking her knuckles menacingly. _Reading that damn book every waking moment._

But everyone else had changed. Sasuke was still cold and distant, but he was almost foaming at the mouth to get back to training tomorrow, his 'no-training' order by Kakashi would then be over. Sakura suspected that his afternoon wanderings through the woods by the bridge builders house was actually when he went off to practice something. And from observing her crush's reactions to their other teammate, to the Uchiha it seemed that Naruto was no longer just a teammate that was a hindrance, but a rival to be wary of.

And Naruto… Naruto was quiet. He too had taken to disappearing every day, but for much longer periods of time and farther away. Once when trying to find her teammates Sakura had found the Uchiha, but not the Uzumaki factor of her team. Where ever Naruto was, it wasn't to just get away from everyone else like it was for Sasuke, but rather to get away from _everything._

The one time Sakura had found Naruto, he had been practicing his shuriken throwing. But he was using his left hand, which the boy had never bothered to do before. _Come to think of it…_ Sakura paused as flashes of recent memory played back to her. Naruto hasn't been using his right arm at all. For eating as well, even at the cost of looking sloppier eating left handed and calmly then he had right handed and pig-like. He also always wore he jacket, even when it was blatantly obvious to everyone that he felt sick whenever the blood stained sleeves rubbed against his wrists.

And though Sakura didn't know it, she too had changed. Using the time when her teammates were off Sakura went to the edge of the woods by the house and practiced shuriken throwing, kawarimi (replacement) and bunshin (clones), and the limited amount of kunai practice anyone could get in when they were practicing alone. Though the Uchiha still held most of her attention, Sakura took time from her crush to attempt to talk with Naruto. Though that was pretty pointless seeing how Naruto rarely responded back. Though to his credit, he was getting better at talking to people again like he use to.

Pulling her shuriken and kunai from the tree she used as a target, Sakura gazed down at the kunai. Taking a few moments to sum up everything she had thought about before, the pink haired girl came to a disturbing conclusion.

Naruto, who everyone on the entire Team Seven –including Kakashi- had thought was a no talent dead-last, had something happen to him that put him in the position to kill. Not only had this affected Naruto, but everyone else. Sasuke who had thought that Naruto was nothing was now acutely aware that the blonde had killed the ninja that Sasuke himself hadn't had the power to even scratch. Sakura who had always complained about Naruto's loudness no longer had that to complain about and it forced her to open her eyes to her orange clad teammate. And though Kakashi was acting like normal, even he seemed more distracted.

Team Seven was falling apart, even though it had never really been together. And Sakura was forced to face a reality she had ignored. Since joining the Academy she had always dreamed of a ninja team- with Sasuke on her team of course- that was good. They'd be the best of the genin teams. A team that cared for one another, and never failed a mission. A dream team where Sakura would proudly stand next to her teammates as an equal.

And yes, Sasuke falling in love with her and marrying her. Then they would have many little Uchihas and be an ideal family, loving, caring, and there for one another. But that _was_ part of another dream that Sakura wouldn't get into that now…

But, the reality was very different from her dream team. Yes, she had Sasuke on her team, and that was quite a few dreams come true. But it was as Kakashi had said during the bell test; Sasuke thought the others would slow him down. And a further slap from reality was that it was true. Sakura and Naruto were nothing compared to the Uchiha. But when Sakura took comfort in the knowledge that she wasn't alone in trailing behind Sasuke, everything changed. Naruto had shown that while he wasn't the genius Sasuke was, he was instead a prodigy of pulling amazing feats of skill and cleverness off when it was needed and so far always succeeding.

And when the going really got tough, what had once been feats of skill and cleverness had turned out to also be one of sheer, raw power. Sakura had heard from Sasuke how Haku's mirrors had been impossible to counter, fire wouldn't melt them and nothing could break them. But when Naruto had though Sasuke dead, Kakashi reported that the genin told him that he had punched Haku through a mirror.

Sakura had seen the remains of the mirrors after they had fallen to the ground without Haku controlling them. All the mirrors were largely unharmed- they were in the process of slowly melting and there were a few cracks in some- but one ice mirror was in shambles. The mirror Naruto had smashed Haku through.

Plopping down on the ground and lying down, Sakura flung an arm over her eyes to keep the sunlight out of her eyes. Sighing, she let her tired body relax. _I don't know what came over me the other day. I'm so sorry Naruto._

_Oh, you know what came over you. _Inner Sakura grumbled. Sakura never understood how her inner part could criticize her so much about that subject when at the same time she had the same crush on the dark Uchiha. _Naruto insulted Sasuke and you reacted, forgetting all else- even the feelings of the teammate who needed you the most._

_I know, and that's why it hurts so much._

* * *

**_Two Weeks After the Battle:_**

Team Seven stood before the wooden graves that marked where Zabuza and Haku were buried. Zabuza's sword stood, stuck in the ground, behind his grave. And the sash Haku had worn around his waist was upon the younger boy's grave.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Naruto standing by Haku's grave. Though he had gotten a little better, it still wasn't the Naruto she had known from before; she turned back towards her sensei. "Kakashi-sensei?" When the jonin made a noise to signify that she had his attention, she continued. "… I can't help wondering. Were those two right about what a ninja should be?"

"A ninja shouldn't be concerned with a reason for their own existence… it is important merely that we exist as a tool for our homeland to use in whatever way they need. That's as true for us in Konohagure as it is for anywhere else." Naruto glanced between the two graves.

'_Please kill me, now. What are you waiting for?'_

"Is this really what becoming a full-fledged ninja's about?" He looked at his hands for a moment, remembering the blood from the boy buried under on of the graves before him. His right arm was now only stiff and a little sore, so he could move it now, but slowly and only so much at a time. He looked at his open hands. "I didn't like it at all!"

Sasuke spoke up, "Do you really feel that way, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Well…no." The silver haired man said. Trying to formulate the best way to answer that question. "And that's why all we ninja live our lives with that ideal always bubbling beneath the surface of our minds, disturbing us." He looked from his students to the grave with the neck cleaving sword behind it, "…like it did to Zabuza…" His lone visible eye slid to the grave with the sash on it. "And the boy…"

Naruto continued looking at his hands. _Haku…_

'_I… find it difficult to embrace the full shinobi philosophy. I can't help but prefer that the pair of you… not force me to kill you. However, if you two are going to come at me… I shall kill my own heart with my blade- just as the word 'shinobi' was originally the words 'heart' and 'blade'- and act as a full-fledged shinobi would!'_

He fisted the appendages. "That's it. I've made up my mind." He let his arms fall down to his sides, the right more carefully and slowly then the left. "I'm gonna create my own nindo- my own ninja path." His left hand moved to cover the cloth above his right arm that concealed the black marking while his right moved to fist over his navel where the seal for Kyuubi resided. "I'm going to create my own destiny! And be strong enough to protect those I care for and Konoha," he slid a hand into his utility pouch and touched the senbon needles in there. All had been cleaned of blood. _Haku, I will keep fighting to protect my precious people just like you did._ "But most importantly. I'll be my own person."

'_Master Zabuza has no use for a weak shinobi.' A gentle smile appeared on the boy's face. 'You've taken away my reason for living!'_

Kakashi understood and gave his upside down 'u' eye smile, Naruto wanted to be seen as a separate being from Kyuubi. But he didn't know that the vessel also wanted to live away from whatever the mark on his arm meant.

But just as the Kyuubi was apart of Naruto in its own way, the brand on his arm had already been ingrained into him. And just as Kyuubi was a curse and a blessing in its various forms, the black symbol on the boys arm would prove to follow in the demons footsteps in that matter as well.

'…_That day I met you in the forest… I remember thinking that we were two of a kind… Surely you can understand… you'll have to bloody your hands, forgive me for that.'_

* * *

_**Later:**_

The time had come to finally depart from the Land of Waves, and Team Seven was carrying more weight with them now then they had when leaving. Not only did they have their own clothes, gear and personal weapons along with fresh provisions replacing what they had brought with them, but also many gifts that were pushed on them. And not only were most items wrapped up- therefore the ninja's were unable to decide what they could keep and what they could throw away- but it would offend the people if they saw their gifts being thrown away.

And since Wave didn't have their own ninja village, it would be good business for Konoha if they kept good relations with this land. So because of this, all four ninja's had heavy packs that were straining at the seams. If Naruto looked closely he could see a picture that looked much like Teams Seven picture, only with a kid that looked like a young Kakashi and other people, peeking through the seams of Kakashi's backpack.

Sadly, Kakashi's genin's backpacks were no better. Naruto was the worst off because of his role in the battle. Kakashi might have killed the biggest threat to Tazuna, but it was the blonde who had killed the man who was oppressing the people.

Inari was the last person to give Naruto a gift. And the genin had to rearrange all the gifts in the top part of his pack before he could fit the box into it. Even then, Naruto could only just close the backpack.

"Thanks to you, our bridge is has finally been completed but…" Tazuna chuckled. "It's going to be awfully dull around here, now that you're all leaving." The people gathered by the bridge consisted of Tazuna, his family, and a few of the other construction workers. Inari was sniffing in an attempt to hold back tears, his whole body shaking with effort. Tazuna ruffled his grandson's hair.

"Come and see us again?" Inari sniffed with his mouth quivering as it threatened to let out the wail he was forcing back.

"Of course!" Naruto smiled at the boy, forcing back his own tears. "It's okay if you want to cry, but only if its happy tears," he told the younger boy.

'_This bridge is a nexus of our destinies… and all of our dreams and futures balance on the edge of a knife.'_

"I'm not gonna cry!" Inari defended. "Are you, 'nii-san?"

"Of course not." With that, Naruto turned and walked away. The rest of Team Seven followed him as the first to use the bridge they had helped bring into creation.

But didn't all destines balance on the edge of a knife?

Inari sniffed as he watched the ninjas walk away, but tears still fell. "That boy, Naruto, touched Inari's heart. And Inari touched the hearts of all the people of our city." Tazuna said, even as he ran the risk of sounding weird. "Naruto built the bridge that carried us all to hope and courage-"

"Speaking of bridges, we still have to officially dedicate this one." Tsunami interrupted her dad before he could go on and on.

"-There's only one name that will truly fit." Tazuna continued as if that had been his purpose all along.

"And what are we going to call it?" His daughter asked.

"How about…" called on his bluff, Tazuna fumbled for a name that would help him preserve his pride. "The Great Uzumaki Naruto Bridge?" Nodding decisively, Tazuna pushed his glasses up his nose proudly.

"The Great Naruto Bridge- for short- it's a nice name dad." Tsunami narrowed her eyes at her father, suspicious of whether or not he had actually been planning to name it that or not.

* * *

_**A Few Days Later:**_

After a few days of leaving Wave territory, and a few more until they reached Konoha, Team Seven could be found camping in the forests that covered most of Fire Country. After eating dinner, which consisted of fish and some dried fruits, Naruto used the excuse of going to the bathroom to head out into the forest. One away from camp, he created a single seal with his hands and muttered, "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu." (Shadow Clone no Jutsu) A single flesh and bone copy puffed into existence and waited for a few minutes until it headed back to camp.

Satisfied, Naruto moved further away from the direction his clone had headed to until he felt he was far enough. Pulling out some shuriken, he used his left arm to improve his aim with it, and his right one to help it recover quicker. He practiced none stop until he was so tired his aim was to far off to be used as self motivation to get him back on task, then gathering up the projectiles scattered around the area he headed back to camp.

He had been doing this since the first night they camped. For some reason he didn't want the others to know of his training for this right now. Sakura knew he was working on his left arm, and she was smart enough that if she really set her mind to it she'd figure him out.

Thankfully the clone just went right to Naruto's tent so no one really interacted with it. If Kakashi got a good look at it he'd know what it was then become suspicious, and Kakashi breathing down his neck wasn't something the demon vessel needed right now. Sakura always took first shift for guard duty, then Naruto, Sasuke, and finally Kakashi. Once Sakura woke up the Naruto copy and went to her own tent, Naruto would dismiss the clone and take over his shift before switching with Sasuke. This use of his favorite jutsu was preformed every night until finally one morning Team Seven stood before the colossal gates of Konoha.

* * *

Review Responses:

**_About Sakura:_** Sakura lovers don't worry, only one other time will she be insulted and that's by Ino later (Just as Sakura insults Ino) Sakura haters, don't worry; you'll see the pink haired girl get bashed one more time!

StolenDreamer: Glad this could help you see what would happen if Naruto had killed Haku. To be truthful I was surprised that I hadn't run across any fanfics about that subject. Good thing too, or else I probably never would have written this! I'm glad you like the gods, their not going to play a very big role, only support once in a while. Honestly I'm really unsure about them, but I couldn't think of anything else.

Dark Naruto: Thank you! I read your drabble, it was really good! I'm not a big fan of Sakura either, but she's okay sometimes.

Dirbatua: Thank you!

WorldSoCold: I'm glad it seems realistic enough for you. But to be truthful I wonder if I took it over a bit over the top…

KuRoI HaNE: Blushes Wow, thanks!

Sir Grag: Thanks. Don't worry; I have no intention of abandoning this story.

Keltosh: I'll try to keep it original. Feel free to give me any ideas or suggestions. Or if you think I need to fix something please tell me.

Chaoslord Shinobi: The Kami thing is only out of desperate need to move the story along in some parts. This was the best way I could get Naruto to get that mark on his arm (and it does serve a purpose as you'll see next chapter) and Kage's a backup plan if I need to use him later for something.

Crakbaby23: Thank you!

Dark Slifer: It took me awhile but here it is.

kyuubikid: I never want it to take me this long to update again, but school is a bitch. Feel free to go to my bio page and e-mail me if you think I'm taking to long, sometimes I just need a push.

Deathsyte01: Next chapter is a good one. But there is also a lot of info I need to cram into it.

Ryuu no Taiyo: She can be shallow. Her biggest flaw is her obsession with Sasuke (or crush, however you want to view it) but if you look at her when she isn't dealing with Sasuke/thoughts on Sasuke or Sasuke anything, she is pretty decent. I don't like her too much personally though.

Lucas13: Don't worry. No same sex relationships but friends or family! I'm glad that its as long as it is, I normally have a problem with cutting it too short.

Viky: Winces Sorry that Chap 3 took forever and a day. But school sucks.

Myst4drgn: Here it is, I'm so sorry it took this long.

Toenail: I was really unsure about it, glad you enjoyed it though!

Dragon'sSword: Cringe Not all their problems, I need to go back and fix that. Yah, Naruto had a destiny the gods prepared for him, but now he can't go back onto that path anymore. Naruto is going to be different, but hopefully he'll return mostly to normal soon. Just not the loud, obnoxious, and somewhat clueless ninja. He'll still be insanely stubborn, amazingly surprising, and unbelievably devoted to those he cares about, but he will calm down a bit. Is making you think almost as much for a fanfic as you did for professionally written books a good thing? Thanks for the long review; I love those ones so much!

Yum2: Life, Death, Fuko and Kage is suppose to be confusing. I'm using Kage as a wild card, if I need to move the story along I can use him as a medium. Hopefully this will be the only time we actually have Naruto meet him or any gods during the story.

Kaze: Yup. Naruto is now under Kage's jurisdiction. But now Kage's not so sure about the poor boy! Fuko is useless, but I needed some way to explain how Naruto came to be under Kage's jurisdiction. Originally it was going to be Mizu, the goddess of water, but Rasengen gave me the idea for Fuko. I'll hint at the pairings next chapter.

Coca-Cola: Yah, looking further into the series shows how much Viz messed them up. I barely have time to update, so I can't go all over the internet trying to find exact translations. I did find a few sites that were full of translations that looked correct to me (with my limited Japanese) but when I start created jutsus I'm going to have a problem with giving them Japanese names. I'm glad that you like the fic so much, and thanks for pointing me towards wikipidia, it was a big help.

Saetan: Here it is!

Kira-Reen: Not completely dark… but wait until later. Evillllllll smile IT will get very interesting… Not dark, but not lighter. Personally, I don't know why Naruto crushes on her so bad.

Surarrin: I don't like Sakura, but I don't hate her. She's Sasuke obsessed, enough to break off her friendship with Ino (a character I personally like) then she actually asks Sasuke to take her with him when he abandons leaf. Sakura's family is in Konoha, and she pledged allegiance to her village when she became a ninja, and she throws it all away for one boy who never even gave her the time of day! But when Sasuke isn't around or when she isn't thinking of him she actually is a decent person…

DarkMan: Kage will be touched on in later chapters, but he is at most a supporting character. Don't worry; this is NOT a Naru/Hina. Hinata is to timid to deal with Naruto, and she'd never challenge him. Naruto needs someone who can keep him on his toes. Hinata doesn't have the heart to deal with him if he works himself to exhaustion; she'd never make him rest for a bit, much less with force if needed. It's not saku/Naru either.

Skuld's Sentaro 5: I'm glad you got your question answered. I hope the gods don't scare too many people away…

AzureSky123: No yaoi! And Naruto wont kill Sakura, that's too cold and dark of him, even in Kyuubi induced rage.

Logrus Mage: Yup, the manga canon is the narrow path. Not everything will change (Oro-chan will still want the Sharigan and stuff) but there are some changes that are much needed. I really don't like having 'gods,' but I tried everything else to get over some plot holes and even then I couldn't figure out anything.

Daniel of Lorien: Sasuke is easy, Kakashi is so-so, Naruto is hard during this story for now because he's suffering a seriously traumatic event. Sakura is naturally hard though. Very hard. She _is_ mean to Naruto when Sasuke is involved, but she **is** also nice to him. She's a character where peoples personal feelings on various subjects (ie, betrayal, crushes/obsessions/loves, self motivation to improve oneself, ect.) can seriously effect their outlook on her. I don't hate Sakura, since I do read fic's about her when she's the star and such and I really like them. But I don't like her too much though. I could roll out a whole debate about reasons for Sakura/ against Sakura (and when I first answered this review I was until I had a half page full of evidence from the manga and analyzing it, and still more ready to be typed out, but I deleted it because it took up so much space and I'm sure you wouldn't want to read it all.) Also, the mist was up when Naruto killed Haku, and Sasuke is also the best ninja of the two during the time. I do understand where you're coming from though. Naruto will slowly regain part of his former character, but killing Haku really does leave a big emotional scar. Don't worry! Naruto is going to have a huge talk with Iruka that will help him stabilize a bit more and reinforce his relationship with his old sensei. And I'm trying to find out how to make Naruto's and Sasuke's relationship better without ruining the story later down the line. Thanks for the review though, the points you made seriously helped me with this chapter and also made me confront a few problems I was having with where I wanted Team Seven's relationships to go. Any more pointers like this review would be much appreciated.

Foonting Turlingdromes: Not so much of plot device, but she was needed for that. I'm glad that you think their human enough, I'm still worried, since gods are… well, they _are_ gods and they are OC's. But I guess my intro of them could have been worst. Honestly I was surprised that so far I had never been able to find a fic with Naruto killing Haku during a normal plot line, I read one where he had been trained by someone since age six or something… but by then he was much different.

Arsenel: I'm glad you approve of my intro of the Gods, I really felt worried when I posted the last chapter.

Silent.Storm: I love Kyuubi, and he really is an interesting character considering that we know next to nothing about him. I think at most the only real facts know is that he's powerful, attacked Konoha for some reason, is wanted by Itachi's organization, is sealed in Naruto, has red chakra, nine tails, and is a fox demon. hehe And Shadow of Kyuubi as a title, let me tell you, that was the original idea that got me started on this, killing Haku was only developed later as I reworked the plotline in my head. And don't worry; you'll see that 'Shadow of Kyuubi' is a good title for the story very soon. And later in more ways then one. I can't tell you much more then that for now… but the fox isn't just going to be a power source for Naruto in this story. And I probably will e-mail you from your bio page soon, if you don't mind letting me bounce ideas off of you.

DotDotDotMan: I never planed for the story to get so dark, but it kinda needed to be since killing Haku left a big scar on Naruto emotionally. It probably won't get darker then this. I'll try not to use English names unless they follow the Japanese names (I don't know much Japanese, and it always made reading fanfic's hard if the Japanese name was used and I never knew what the jutsu was or did, since their names normally reflect what they do) But there will be a time when I make up some jutsus and I wont know the Japanese translation.

Gold-case: Thanks for the review, even small ones really help authors cheer up!

Warfles: Kage is cool, but I cant make him too cool or else that will cause problems. Fuko is stuck up, but that's who she is… a plot device.

Meteorain27: Wow, a lot of people say that they often have wondered what Naruto will be like if he killed Haku. I've read Fanfics with every Naruto paring/plotline imaginable, but never have I seen one about Naruto killing Haku and that's what gave me the idea.

Mikaii41: Yah, Naruto is too hyperactive, but if he wasn't he wouldn't be Naruto. But him calming down would be nice, so I was happy when I finally had the plot line for a fan fic that would let me do that. And Sakura is a bit obsessed with Sasuke, but this part of the story takes place in the first part of the third manga volume. And she _is_ pretty obsessed with Sasuke in the start…

TheFalloftheDemon: I'm sorry that it took so long to update, but school is insane. I'm glad you liked the gods.

Hobbes: I'll try!

Hitomi No Ryu: Wow, you think I did? Thanks! BLUSHES

Madnarutofan: Kage is a supporting character for now, but depending on how people are feeling to a god OC that might change.

Stormspiral: Thanks, but really, it's not that great. I really could have done better on the second and third chapters.

Kitsurumenokitsune: I'm sorry it took so long, but here it is!

Soul ice: The god subject is only to support the story line, but depending on peoples reaction I might delve more into the subject then originally intended. I certainly can do a lot with it!

Demonfox04: It was a moment of inspiration really. I didn't know how else to make Naruto switch from the jurisdiction of one god to that of another, or even how to explain how he was under the jurisdiction of a god. I'm glad I figured it out though.

Alex: Thank you!

Suno-tenhi: Sakura is realizing that she's being (I wouldn't say bitch but…) a bit cruel and unfair to Naruto. Naruto will still learn the rasengan around the same time, and other skills of the shadow type grins oooohhhhh… just wait. It's an old idea from one of my original stories that I'm revamping and cleaning up. Just wait for the next chapter…

Dan Inverse: Kage might be free, but he isn't naturally a strong god on his own, and you can be sure that Death won't just let him do whatever. But as a bridge between Naruto and Kyuubi… there's the hint in this chapter and more will be explained in the next. Glad you like Kage. And Fuko is a bitch… and a plot device.

Wow! I already have 72 reviews for only two chapters! You guys sure know how to spoil a girl!

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	4. Beyond Connected

**_Updates_**: I'm soooo sooorrryyyyy! Seriously, one thing piled up onto another and before I knew it, it's been AGES since I last updated. I'm back now! I promise you that I will not abandoned this story like my last two. Thank you all for waiting for me and sticking with this crazy writer. You guys are seriously the best. Your reviews always make me smile and more and more ideas run through my head.

The story so far…

Having killed Haku and Gato, Naruto deals with the loss of his childish views of the world. After having a run in with a mysterious figure who calls himself 'Kage' Naruto receives a strange mark on his arm that seems to mean something. With him and his team at odds, Naruto returns to Konoha. And the prologue has officially ended.

* * *

Shadow of Kyuubi

By SilverNinjaHikaru

Chapter IV

Beyond Connection

* * *

_The last thing he remembered was the cry of a baby, a baby not long out of the womb. This baby had a head full of golden blond hair, and his face was scrunched up as he cried, curled up in a basket in the middle of a ritual setting. Then, he was being pulled toward the baby._

_Finally, nothingness._

_However, over the years, knowledge he had not discovered and memories he had not made filtered to him. But he was no fool, he new it came from the 'other.'_

_That baby boy._

_Only what was very important to the boy or made a huge impact upon him. A girl with pink hair, those memories were always surrounded with a cherished aura, even when the memory itself was never pleasant due to the pink haired ones scorn. Though the girls actions seemed to be govern by her affections for another._

_There were memories of sitting alone on a swing under a tree, watching other human children play. None invited the baby boy- now a young child- to join them. And when ever he tried to play with them… more scorn, and anger._

_Walking through a village, and lots of people glaring. Cold, cold eyes. Not just scorn, not just anger, but hate. Pure, undiluted hate. It was the most common memory he gained from the boy._

_For a while, that was all._

_He couldn't even remember who he was now. All that mattered was when the next memory of hateful, ice cold eyes would return. Of children scorning the boy, or of the girl who the boy gave such a found aura but only scorned him in return._

_So long… for so long those were all he knew._

_Then, something changed._

"You! You are Kyuubi no Kitsune that attacked the village!"

_That memory shook up one of his own memories. And he knew._

_**He** was Kyuubi no Kitsune!_

_The memories of the boy, his vessel, changed. A man with a scar across his nose that the vessel bathed in an aura of family love. A boy with black eyes regarded as a rival and friend. A man with silver hair and one eye covered._

_Happy. Happy memories. The glares no longer mattered._

_Then, again the changed. But this time for the worst. And things changed. He was briefly exposed to the memory of the black eyed boy on the ground until the vessel's anguish overwhelmed the memory, his anger sparking Kyuubi's rage._

_No! Don't change the memories back! Enough hate, enough pain!_

_He saw what the boy saw, felt the air brush the boy's skin._

_A boy with a strange mask upon his face was within his view. It took only a few seconds to brush through the vessel's memory, now that he had near free run of his access to the boy's mind. He couldn't control, but he could learn._

_And he learned that the boy wearing the mask was the one who caused his vessel pain. Now directly connected to his vessel, the boy's pain was now his. And his demonic instincts, triggered by the boy's pain and suffering, cased him to react in the only way he could at the time._

_Destroy what caused Kyuubi the pain of the boy._

_But, once Kyuubi/vessel's fist smashed the mask, did the boy's shock force Kyuubi back down._

_The next memory he was exposed too was of the vessel slashing the formerly masked boy's throat._

_PainanguishpainanguishpainanquishpainanquishpainpainpainpainSUFFERING!_

_Then, all was black one again._

_Only the thrum of suffering came from the vessel to keep Kyuubi company in this void._

_But, yet, another change of memories._

"How do I know of Kyuubi?" _He… he had heard that voice before! He couldn't remember whom it belonged to… but had heard it before!_

"How do you know of it?" _That would be the vessel._

"I know because I knew him."

_No image with this memory of the vessels. Just the voices._

_Then, a bolt of pain, of the Kyuubi's own pain._

_Then, nothing._

* * *

"Iruka!" Ayame grinned and waved as the academy teacher walked up. After Iruka sat down and ordered, she brought him his drink. "Do you know when Naruto-kun will be back?" But she was disappointed with the shake of Iruka's head. "Oh…" She deflated, worried about the blond who proudly held the title of Ichiraku's-Best-Costumer.

"Hokage-sama told me it should be sometime this week. You'll see him then, since I promised to have ramen with him when he got back… my treat, since this is his first mission outside of the village."

"Forget the mission, this was the kids first time _out_ of the village, right?" Old man Ichiraku asked. Peering into a pot of steaming ramen, "Why spend money now? Knowing Naruto, he'll eat until you stop him from eating you out of house and home." A grumble from a flushed chunin's stomach was the answer. "Hunger is always a good enough answer," the ramen stand's owner chuckled at Iruka's expense as he set the bowl of miso ramen down. Adding some ingredient to a pot on the stove, the cook looked over at Iruka. "Hey Iruka, you okay?"

"I'm fine." The academy teacher stirred his ramen with his chopsticks. "I guess I'm just worried about Naruto and the others. This is their first real mission. And to top it off it's in another country. They also don't get along very well."

"Weeelllll." Stealing a glass of water from his daughter- one she had filled up for herself- the man looked thoughtful. "I'm no expert, but this might be the kind of thing that starts to cement how the team's relationships will be. It should make them start to find their own nooks and crannies in the set up of their team, ya know, the rankings within the team and who is good for what. Is there anyone else on the team that we might know?"

Iruka swallowed what he had been eating and looked up. "The jonin instructor is Hatake Kakashi." He grinned at Ayame's blush. "I've seen him here once or twice. So I guess you might know him. His teammates are Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke."

"The Uchiha boy? Who in Konoha doesn't know about him?" Ichiraku asked, placing his now empty glass in the sink. "Naruto's complained about him enough to us anyways, kinda the cool silent type I hear." He scratched his chin. "And the other, Haruno Sakura you say? Don't know her other then what Naruto's said."

"Naruto-kun has a crush on her, right?" Ayame asked, refilling Iruka's glass of water. "He certainly talks about her a lot."

"And she's got a crush on Sasuke." Iruka sighed. "And Sasuke doesn't care much about either of them."

"Cheer up!" Ayame said. "Naruto-kun has a very strong personality and a powerful will. Don't you trust him for a simple mission? Even if it is out of the Fire Country and his first real mission." Iruka looked startled that she implied that he had no faith in his student for a simple C-ranked mission. Much less one that just required the team to guard an old man from bandits.

Unknown to Iruka, the Hokage had _conveniently_ neglected to mention the letter he had received from Kakashi about the change of mission and rank.

"Of course I have faith in him! He's one of my best students! There is absolutely no reason for my worrying other then I'm concerned he'll get homesic-"

"Kakashi-san!" Ayame bowed to the person who just walked in. "How may we help you today?"

"Hey, where's Naruto? He should have been here by now if you guys are back." Ichiraku turned around from working at the stove. Kakashi nodded briefly to Ayame and her father before he walked over to Iruka.

"I need to talk to you."

Iruka felt worry creep into his stomach at those words. He nodded and stood up, tossing money for the ramen on the table as he followed Kakashi out.

* * *

_It feels good to be back home._ Naruto looked around the shabby apartment that had been his for as long as he could remember. It was two rooms, the main room which acted as a kitchen/bedroom/living room combo, and the bedroom. Well, four rooms if you include the closet that was attached to the main room and the bathroom attached to the bathroom.

After dumping all his backpack's contents on the floor of his apartment, Naruto sorted the pile into sections. One section was the few presents he had kept from the people of Wave, Team Seven couldn't give back anything and insult the people, but they couldn't travel so heavily loaded down either. Kakashi had told the team to open the gifts and sort through it, the first night they camped, and then the next morning the pile of the gifts they didn't keep was gone. It had been little things the villagers had given them mostly. But the sheer amount they had been given was enough to put a strain on everyone's backs.

Kakashi had probably done something with the unwanted gifts, like burned them in place of firewood if the odd bits and pieces of junk in the ashes the next morning were any indication.

Naruto looked down at the pile before him, money, the still unopened gifts from Tazuna and his family, and a few other things. His favorite was probably a fox stuffed animal from Inari. It had yellow fur, and bright blue eyes. And the mouth smiled brightly.

The other pile was clothing, all dirty. Then a pile of the scrolls and weapons he hadn't carried around in his shuriken holster, utility pouch, or in his pockets. Finally, the food left over was either trashed or put away, depending on its freshness. When that done, he left the piles on the floor and ruffled through his stuff in his home. All the bandages he had were too big for wrapping around his bicep to hide the mark and he couldn't find anything else to use instead. He experimentally moved his arm around, a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth at how it now moved, almost just how it had before that stupid mark had been put on.

"Time to go shopping." Naruto sighed. "Kage henge no jutsu (Shadow transformation no jutsu)" Forming his hands into a familiar seal, he waited until the smoke cleared away before he checked how the jutsu went. Orioke no jutsu (Sexy no jutsu) was only an extra benefit of the real reason he made up the jutsu. Unlike Henge no jutsu (Transformation no jutsu) which was an illusion overlaid onto the user, this jutsu made Naruto's body become the person or object.

It was the same jutsu he used against Zabuza when he teamed up with Sasuke, Naruto had used the jutsu to turn into a real shuriken rather then overlay his body with an illusion.

The real reason Naruto had come up with this jutsu? So he could shop without being kicked out of stores or overcharged just because the shop keepers hated him. He could, at most, hold it for an hour. It was like Kage Bunshin no jutsu (Shadow clones no jutsu) to Bunshin no jutsu (Clones no jutsu) It was a more advanced form of a simple academy jutsu, that took up a lot of chakra to make it 'real,' and to hold it.

The person looking back at Naruto in the mirror was plain, easy to forget. Brown hair and brown eyes with tanned skin. Blue short sleeved shirt, black pants and ninja sandals along with a hati-ate. Looking over the form in the mirror, since this was Naruto's first time in a long while using this jutsu, the Kyuubi vessel frowned.

His scars on his face were gone, and his shirt covered the seal of the Kyuubi which Naruto knew from past experiences was visible since he was using chakra. But the black kage kanji mark on his arm as well as the scar connecting it to the Yondaime's seal was still there. Frowning, Naruto redid the jutsu, this time making a simple grey jacket appear.

It seemed that like the Kyuubi's seal, the shadow kanji and the scar connecting the two affected him on a plane beyond just the physical one. Pushing that thought out of mind, Naruto went out of his apartment.

Few people knew Naruto could do this. Kakashi figured it out one day when he saw Naruto. Iruka also knew of it, just because Naruto shared everything with his favorite person. And the Hokage, because the old man seemed to know everything.

Naruto wouldn't be surprised if some ANBU or a few jonin knew he could do it. It hurt his pride to admit it, but there were some ninja's out there who Naruto had no chance of outsmarting… yet.

* * *

"You're late Kakashi." The chunin, one of the two right hand workers of Sandaime, working at the table set up for handing out missions said in monotone, the jonin had returned from the mission early, not unusual, but missed the time for handing in mission reports, which was sadly also not unusual. Izumo collected the mission report and scanned it before stamping a 'Mission Success' in green at the top and tossing it into a pile by his feet.

"Is Hokage-sama in his office? I need to talk with him." Kakashi didn't even react to the all too familiar accusation. The chunin jerked his thumb to the door leading to the core of Konoha's headquarters as he looked over the listed of D-ranked missions for Kurenai's team eight. "Yo, Kurenai." Kakashi greeted, glancing over her team. All of her genin were from powerful clans of Konoha.

"Come on! Give us a new mission. We finally got the top rank for the new genin teams away from the Uchiha's team. And we wanna keep it! Right Akamaru?" Kiba grinned as his dog barked agreement to his master's statement.

"Then you'll need a lot of missions to catch up… again." This time it was Kotetsu who spoke up. A somewhat sadistic grin on his face at the feral looking boy's expression. "Kakashi's Team Seven just got top rank out of the rookie genins… again."

"HOW?" Kiba's jaw dropped.

"C-ranked mission turned A-ranked. Mission success. No deaths for our side and the death of two mist missing ninja's of high rank, and a business man who…" Izumo pulled out the A-ranked mission scroll and crossed out something. "We actually just got a mission from a Fire Country transport company to assassinate. But now it's taken care of so we can send the response to the transportation company and get payment for it." The chunin was sorting through mission files until he came upon the one he was looking for and scanned it. Nodding in satisfaction he passed it to Kurenai.

Kakashi had to wonder how the chunin knew all of that, since he had just barely glanced at the mission report and had just had it turned in.

"WHAT THE HELL? DAMN UCHIHA BASTARD!"

"Actually it was the Uzumaki kid who did most of it." Izumo said as he rolled up the D-ranked mission listing scroll. Kotetsu leaned over and snatched Kakashi's report off the pile on the floor and read it. He looked impressed.

"Damn. The kid did do it."

"Naruto?" Shino's voice might have been uninterested, but the fact that he actually asked revealed it was quite the opposite.

Kurenai, who had overheard Kakashi asking the chunin about the Hokage, was slightly worried. "Is your team all right Kakashi? An A-ranked mission so soon…" She saw Hinata pressing her fingertips together and open her mouth to speak, before the Hyuuga heiress lost her nerve and closed her mouth. "Is Naruto okay?" She asked for her shy student after a sigh. Hinata was really too quiet for her own good, Kurenai tried to get her to speak up as well as speak out once in a while, but it was mostly pointless. Hinata was just quiet and timid.

Kakashi sighed, "That's why I'm here." With those cryptic words he turned around, waved over his shoulder and went deeper into the Hokage's building. A few words with the Hokage's secretary soon had him inside Sandaime's office.

* * *

"You're worried the seal might have cracked?" Sandaime asked after hearing the tale. "Yondaime did speak of how this version of the seal had never quite been done before. Usually Shinagami takes both the soul of the summoner and the summoner's target into its belly. However, the Kyuubi couldn't be killed, so Yondaime somehow managed to get it sealed inside Naruto. It may be that the seal reacts to the boy's state of mind. Normally it does its job, keeping the demon sealed away. But when he is under great emotional distress apparently, it allows some influence to leak out." Rubbing his temples, the old man sighed. "How is Naruto now?"

"At Wave after the battle he went off to train on his own. When we were coming back he used a Kage Bunshin (shadow clone) to sneak off after dinner until it was his turn for watch duty. Sakura and Sasuke never realized it; Naruto is pretty clever when he puts his mind to it."

"Hummmm." The Hokage sat for a moment in silence, thinking. "What did he do when he left the team?"

"More training. Tazuna gave him Haku's senbon needles, I'm not sure if that was such a good idea. Reminding him of his first kill with the weapons of the one he killed. But I don't see any bad influence. He just gets memories… I'm guessing. But he does go off to practice with them. Thing is, he uses his left hand, so his aim is horrible. He keeps at it though, and always came back in time for his shift."

"What do you think caused him to start practicing with his left?" Closing his eyes, the elder man tried to organize all the information. He wanted to figure out what the problem was so he could help Naruto somehow, if there was a problem. This could just be Naruto's way of dealing with emotional hurt.

"I don't really know," Kakashi shrugged. "But since the party for the death of Gato, he's been acting as if it hurts to use his right arm. It's gotten better, but for a long time he barely moved it and even then it seemed to cause him great pain. He might have seriously pulled a muscle when he threw the kunai at Gato, since Naruto isn't that strong or fast, pulling off a feat like that might have caused some damage. Since it isn't life threatening or permanent, or even long term other then a few weeks, it seems the Kyuubi isn't healing it. So I figured that if the Kyuubi hasn't done anything then, it's nothing to worry about. I did make sure that during the trip back to give him easier tasks and to watch him, but his arm is almost as good as new."

"Good," Sarutobi muttered. But there was still disappointment in the old man's eyes as he looked upon Kakashi. "But why haven't you talked to him." Was it just the Hokage, or did Kakashi look at the floor as if he was ashamed?

"I tired, but I kept giving up. I don't know what to say to him. I've offered to listen if he wanted to talk. And at one point I almost forced him to talk to me, but he ranted to Tazuna's grandson, and seemed to recover a bit after that."

"So you just left it at that?" Sandaime asked. "More needs to be done; just leaving the subject there isn't enough, Kakashi." Now Kakashi looked up.

"I've talked to someone who has experience with something like this. And he agreed to help Naruto."

The Hokage nodded and smiled a little bit. "Good." When Kakashi left in a burst of smoke, Sandaime's lips tilted into a frown. "So what will you do now?" He asked a figure hiding in the room. A woman stepped into the light and frowned back.

"What do you mean?" The woman pulled her trench coat closer to her form. "I've quit doing missions out side of Fire country so I could supervise the chunin exam. Once it's over I'll go back to doing out of country missions again."

"You've been out of the village for nearly twelve years. Naruto needs you." The Hokage closed his eyes as pain shot across the woman's face.

"Naruto doesn't know about me. He needs people like Iruka or Kakashi, who stand by him and didn't abandon him. I was overwhelmed in my own grief and did just that, left him."

"Don't you think you've left him alone for long enough, Anko?" The Hokage looked at Orochimaru's ex-apprentice.

Anko walked over to look out of a window that overlooked the Hokage memorial. "Kami, Hokage-sama… he looks so much like Arashi…" Anko's gaze fell upon the mountainside image of the fourth. "Eyes, hair… love of ramen and amazing will power… most of Arashi's personality…" A sad smile molded upon her lips. "The rest though, the rest is Midori's. Lack of height, openness with those she trusted…"

"He shares a lot of similarities with you as well. The love of turning around and surprising people, and of course, he too has a shadow hanging over him from his past." Orochimaru's ex-apprentice put a hand on the mark upon the back of her neck.

"I took missions out of the village to ease my own hurt of Arashi's death. I had lost both a relative in Midori and a in-law in Arashi when they died. When I was recovering from my involvement with Orochimaru's plans, they had both stood by me and supported me."

"And with both of them gone, it threw you into despair." Sandaime finished for her. "Especially with how they made you their unborn child's official guardian should something happen to them, and right after they discovered Midori was pregnant too. Then with the complications of Midori's pregnancy and how much you did for them then." Anko closed her eyes and nodded. "When Kyuubi attacked, it made complications even worst."

"It made everything worst. Midori was already…gone."

"So, when Arashi died too, you were overcome with your own hurt. You set up the account for Naruto as well as whatever other affairs regarding him remained, then you left for missions that would take a long time out of Fire country." Unrolling a scroll, the Hokage looked at the set up for the chunin exams. "Now I brought you back for this."

"And when it's over, I'll take another mission out of Fire Country that has a long duration." She pulled out two pictures from her pocket of her mini-skirt. One held a picture of Arashi and a pretty woman with beautiful light brown hair and delicate green eyes. Anko gazed at the two startling similar faces of Naruto and his father Arashi. "If I told Naruto and he rejects me…" She let the pain reflecting on her face finish for her. "He has every right for rejecting the relative who left him because of her own sorrow." She gently put the pictures back into the pocket they had come from, then left after giving the Hokage a formal salute.

When the door closed, Sandaime placed his pipe on his lips and sighed. "But even your relation to him is more complicated then that."

* * *

There were a few places that, if Iruka needed to find Naruto, he knew where the boy would be. One place was Ichiraku, but since that was where the chunin was now and there was no sign of the boy, he moved on. The other place was on top of the Yondaime's head, Naruto automatically gravitated there whenever he just wanted to be alone. Iruka only knew this because he made sure he knew where Naruto liked to be, since he constantly worried about the blonde.

Not there either.

After trying Team Seven's training grounds, Naruto's apartment, Iruka's own apartment in case Naruto had been trying to find _him_, he tried the Hokage's building. Iruka knew that the few times Naruto hadn't talked to him, the boy had gone to Sandaime. But he wasn't there either.

The only place left was the academy, where Naruto would sometimes go to wait for him. But Naruto's swing was empty, swinging abandoned in the breeze. He wasn't in any of the classrooms either.

Disappointed in himself for giving up after he wracked his brain for more places but came up with none, Umino Iruka sat down at his desk and took a red pen to students papers. Trying to recall any new haunts Naruto might have adapted to mind.

* * *

It was around one in the afternoon, as she watched her team. Asuma and Shikamaru were playing Go with Choji snacking on chips and watching. "Asuma-_sensei_," Ino put emphasis on the teacher's honorific. "What else are we going to work on today?"

"Eh?" Asuma lit a new cigarette and started to smoke again. "Work on today?" He paused and scratched his bearded chin. Then he placed a new Go piece on the board. "We did some teamwork exercises earlier, so for now we'll rest up until you guys head home for the day."

"Like we do every day?" Ino muttered. Their team had the best team skills of all the rookie genin teams. Their clan jutsus all complimented each other nicely, but other then that there was nothing that could dig Team Ten out of the rut it had made for itself as the lowest ranked genin team out of the three. Turning to the forest surrounding their training grounds, Ino headed off.

"Where you going?" Choji asked before he shoveled another handful of chips into his mouth.

"To find something to do," Ino said before she was swallowed by the forest. Ino was tired of yelling her lungs out, of asking nicely too. She was sick of being weak and on the weakest team of the rookie genin.

She had been the top kunoichi in her graduating class, only a few ranks away from the title of Rookie of the Year given to Uchiha Sasuke out of a class consisting of thirty students. She was one of the only three girls to pass the genin admission test given by a team sensei and was a proud member of the nine rookie genins. But by now the other teams were sure to have trained hard, and probably were much stronger then Team Ten.

Ino liked her team, honestly she really did. She trusted them with her life and figured they did the same with her. But her team had built that trust though their fathers being friends, Asuma being their teacher –since they had only meet him when he was introduced as their teacher- earned their trust because he was a jonin and he ingrained himself in the InoShikaCho gang. But mainly their trust had been built up through countless teamwork exercises. Instead of teaching them how to do a ninjutsu or that cool taijutsu move of Asuma's that involved a two kick combo and a punch with a wrist lock and a take down at the end, Asuma had them do more teamwork exercises.

That was good and all, but how could the team improve if the individuals couldn't?

While Ino was thinking along this line of though, she absently had drifted through training ground four, a training ground that was unreserved by any ninja teams for the day and was open for any ninja to use, she found herself soon coming upon a small clearing in the forest training ground.

Hard at work, kicking one of the logs set up in the clearing to act as a practice post, was a ninja.

_Is that… Naruto?_ Ino asked herself.

First of all, his orange jacket was absent, leaving him only in a black shirt with his orange pants. The pants themselves were in a bad state. Dirty, and ripped in countless areas, it appeared as though Naruto had been at this for a long time. As long as she had known Naruto, he had never been much of a hard worker. In class he was either fooling around or not paying attention. In all truth, when he had been the only person to not pass the graduation exam, she had felt sorry for him, but hadn't been really surprised.

Then he had shown up for the day when the genin teams were to be made. He not only had a hati-ate, but also was enlisted on a team, Ino- as well as everyone else in the class- had been shocked. Its not that she thought nothing of him, it's just that she never thought much of him. He was Uzumaki Naruto, prankster, Hokage-wannabe Uzumaki Naruto.

It was when she finally noticed the blood soaked tatters of his orange pants that she made her finally realize that she could go away or go up to him, but staying hidden in the foliage sure as hell wasn't an option.

Mind made up, she walked out from behind a tree, his focus was still on punishing the log, so he didn't notice her until she spoke, "Since my teammates never push themselves to hard in our training sessions, I'm only guessing that when you start to bleed is as good a time as any to take a rest."

With the last crack of bone and flesh striking wood, Naruto finished his training and turned around. "What are you doing here? This isn't your team's training grounds." Naruto said.

Ino took a moment to scan his shins again. Blood hid most of his flesh that she should be able to see through the rips in his pants, so she couldn't really see how injured he was. But the fact that it was blood hiding his wounds from view, made her sure that it was good she had stopped him from causing more harm to himself. "Its not your team's either." She pointed out. "Sit down; let me take a look at your shins." She walked towards him, disregarding the body language that screamed 'go away!'

"What's it to you?" Naruto asked, impassively watching her.

Ino sighed, prankster, Hokage-wannabe, _rude_ Uzumaki Naruto. Yep, she had quite the shock when she found out that he had managed to pass.

"Because it's stupid to keep pushing yourself when you're already bleeding just by doing some stupid training!" She then swung one of her legs out at the level of his ankles, her own foot and ankle held stiffly, and jerked his legs out from under him. She took a little bit of pleasure at the look of shock that was across his face as he landed hard on the ground.

"What the fuck was that for!" Ino's smile was a sickingly sweet one, and she pulled on of his legs to her when she kneeled down and pushed up his pant leg so she could see how bad his injures were.

"Because you're being an idiot."

However, once the wounds were cleared of all the blood that hid them from sight, Ino could only stare.

There were no injuries.

"I'm a fast healer," Naruto's voice lacked much emotion.

"I…I guess." Ino said. Shoving his legs off her lap, she looked at him. His lack of expression.

Lack of motion in his eyes.

This wasn't the Naruto from before.

And despite herself, Ino found that she was concerned. "Hey, I've got some time. Let's talk."

"Why?"

"Well… I want to know more about you."

"Humph, Fat Ass and Lazy Ass using your team training time to eat or play board games."

Ino looked at him in shock. "How do you know?"

Naruto gave a fox smile. The closed eyes hiding the lack of expression in his eyes and the smile looked more forced then usual. "Sakura talked about how 'Ino-pig got what she deserved! Having those two as her teammates! Hah! And she thought she could take Sasuke-kun away from me!' And all that."

"Oh she did now, did she?" Ino fumed. Glaring at the ground.

"Don't worry, it's not like Sasuke pays any attention to her." This caused Ino to look up so quickly she thought she heard her neck squeak in protest.

"Really?" Naruto laughed at her expression, the utter shock and relief she displayed. So maybe it was more like a brief laugh, but it was the closest to the Naruto from Academy that he'd been all day.

Ino's shock and relief about Sasuke and Sakura's none-existent-romance, unlike what Sakura said otherwise, melted away into surprise. Naruto had always laughed with his eyes closed. This was the first time she'd seen him laugh and keep his eyes open.

They were such a beautiful shade of cerulean. Even when they were mostly expressionless and only had a slight glint of amusement in them.

"So, what do you want to talk about." Naruto relaxed against a tree. Ino had made him, if only briefly, forget about what happened in Wave country. Maybe talking to her for a bit will let him forget again, if only for a little bit longer.

* * *

**_About Anko_**: Did anyone else think about Anko and Naruto being related when, during the Chunin exams, Sakura made that comment about her being like Naruto? I sure did. I'm afraid I'm out of date with the fanfiction community. So I wouldn't be surprised if someone already wrote about Anko and Naruto being related. I just ask that before they flame me about me copying, that they realize that I'm very busy and don't read many fanfictions (I mostly read Kingdom Hearts) and that since I've already added OC's I'm very reluctant to make more, and Anko is prime for Naruto's relative. BUT I'M NOT TELLING WHAT RELATIVE (aunt, cousin, and such) YET. And how her relation is more complicated then 'just that' with Naruto? (Crackles evil like until starts coughing because she swallowed too much air) Keep with me and see.

**_About Ino_**: I may be out of date for Naruto fanfictions, but I'm not that out of date. I've read Kraken's Ghost's **_Foxhound_**, and Kaara's **_Fighting All Odds_**, so I know this friendly relationship has already been done. But I've always found Ino to be an interesting character. In the manga, she originally sets herself up to be shallow, but in her flashbacks she proves to be deeper then she first appears. I'd love to delve into her character, and her personality is perfect for dealing with Naruto.

**_About Kage Henge_**: I always thought Henge no jutsu was illusion based, so when Sasuke throws windmill shuriken Naruto like any old shuriken, I figured that it wasn't just an illusion. Hence Shadow Transformation. It was originally Kage Bunshin that gave me the idea. More shadow jutsus are coming up in later chapters.

Review Responses:

korrd: There is a pairing, but you'll just have to wait and see! (Fox smiles)

DFIRE314: Glad you liked Sakura getting told off, personally, it was a rant for me as well.

Lord Vivious of the Azure S…: Sorry it took me so long.

HiddenETC: Dark? No. Light? No. In between (smiles) perhaps…

Ibozun: I'm glad you like it, hope this new chapter doesn't disappoint.

nonengel: The sad thing is, its taken me so long to write out this fanfic. I've had the idea for a lot of it since the battle between Haku and Naruto. But I just didn't have the courage to write it all out. Now, my crazy schedule and writer's block… I'm glad though that this fanfic has interested you. And you'll find out about the mark very soon.

liar-just-a-liar: No, no devil Naruto. He's hurting right now, but things will change with Anko and Ino around. Just wait.

toilet…hee: I'm fine with yaoi, but I don't write it nor read it. Every one's got their preferences, just as I have mine. I hope others are understanding and don't say rude things about those who write/read it. I TOTALLY agree with out about Naruto and Hinata. Thanks for the Japanese translations. When I got back to fix up the past chaps, I'll be sure to use them. Or I might just keep them as they are so as not to confuse readers who don't read authors notes or past chapters. Fuko means 'Wind Child.' Ever read Flame of Recca? The manga? Its really good, and she's one of the main characters. My Fuko is in no way based on Recca's Fuko, I couldn't use Kaze 'cause that's a guy's name and I wanted it to be a wind Goddess. Hope you liked this update. I'm soooo sorry it took me this long.

Scarlet Ice Cascading: I hope you still LOVEITLOVEIT since its taken me so long to update. I hope this chapter is worth it.

nantukoprime: Wow… this chapter wasn't done at a regular interval… I'm really sorry. Don't worry, I'm already planning on dedicating a few parts for Kage, I really like him. And Kage and Kyuubi do have a past relationship that will be explained.

Arsenel: I'm sorry; I must not have written that part very well, I was hoping that with Kage's references to Shinigami (Death) that people would realize that Kage had permission from Shinigami for this. I'll try to clean that part up.

AzureSky123: Thank you.

BlackAdder42I'm glad you realize how hard it is writing about Naruto's trials. I want to show that he's hurting, but not make him completely angsty. It's really hard! I hope you still like how he's acting.

kawaii ryu: Hehe… Thank you.

kawaiineziumi: You'll see! (Fox smile)

Saetan: Yes, finally and update. I hope you're still with me.

Surarrin: It's really rewarding when a person can look so deeply into one's story. He's a plus for you, in the next chapter, Iruka comments on how Naruto keeping the senbons seems kind of dark for the blond. Its not there for being dark and morbid, it's because much later it will come into play, and it is for memories.

Yum2: Contact Kyuubi… Did you just read my mind? Hehe, wait up and see. Nope, Kakashi's not blind, but he's been an active ninja for many years and has not had much experience with kids probably, so he kept his knowledge hidden. He doesn't know how to handle it, so he's going to find a way to deal with it. Even if that means he isn't going to be the one directly fixing it, and not because he doesn't care or doesn't want to.

Hitomi No Ryu: Wait and see! I'm so sorry its taken so long to update.

Toenail: Glad you liked the senbons.

penguin knight: A bit more Sakura bashing to come, even as she's trying to be nice to Naruto.

Geminia: Wow… I'm really glad you liked my first chapter.

Tsurai no Shi: Sorry it has taken so long, but here's the update.

Fic Slayr: I'm glad you like this fix so much.

Fic Slayr: Wow, two reviews at once? Don't worry about Naruto, he'll recover after a while, but emotional wounds take time.

Shuuyin: Wow! Really? I'm sure there are many out there that are way better then mine.

Altariel Eldalote: I work really hard on my grammar. Thank you so much for the compliment, it really means a lot to me.

Altariel Eldalote: Thank you for sending three in a row, I respond to every review, so three in a row gets you three in a row.

Altariel Eldalote: Thank you for taking time to give me a review for each chapter as you read them. It's people like you that make me sit myself down and crack down on my writer's block.

Skuld's Sentaro: The senbon have a purpose. Glad you like them.

Inu-Angel Z: Yep, Sakura still has to mature, and this was the kick in the ass that will make her engine jump start.

the dark icon writers: Wow, it still amazes me that people feel so strongly for this story. Thank you!

Kitsurumenokitsune: Did I get your pen name right? I've got a pairing all planed out, but I only hope you approve!

Anti-thule: More reviews… need more… but I really appreciate the one you gave me!

Lord Myst: I want a girl who won't let Naruto push them around and who Naruto will truly be able to love as not just a girlfriend/whatever-else but as a friend and partner. He needs someone who'll give as good as they get.

anti-thule: The button calls you… Thanks for the second review!

DSK: Hope this new chapter is as good as the past ones.

Sirshapechanger: Thanks. Hope to hear more from you.

FreedomGundam: I hope you have read the story by now! And I hope you like it.

DragoonVBK: Thank you. I'm sorry its taken so long.

covered in blood'n gore: Well, Naruto is still trying to find out who he is now. But that's a large chunk of the whole story.

Vincent1875: I made you wait too long.

RaitenKitsune: I made you wait for this new chapter, sorry.

incrediblysexi: Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Slothful: Wow. That's the only way I can respond to your wonderful review. I'm glad you like this story so much. I'll try to keep up the high standard I seem to have set for myself.

Kouhiofdoragons: It's taken awhile, but I'm back!

TimeReaper: And still more is to come.

Dexoys: Thank you!

ANBU-nightblink: Good review… I appreciate.

Boudicca Autheria: Thanks, more to come.

ShadowObscurity: It's taken awhile, but here is more and more is yet to come.

IncadescentOne: I work hard, so I hope you enjoy it. Feel free to tell me if anything needs to be improved.

jib: Sorry, its taken so long… but I'm back.

deviltwit: Thanks.

thestoneox: Sorry, you'll have to wait a little longer for the shadow tattoo.

azure orbis: I'm glad you got the watery smile! I was afraid that people wouldn't!

Kuzosama: Thank you.

Kuzosama: Thank you.

Kuzosama: Thank you. Sorry its taken so long.

mike: I do too, so I'm glad my story makes sense.

isthisparadise: My greatest joy is writing something others can enjoy. I'm glad you like it.

Kage Ryudo: Its been awhile, but here is a new update!

glazedlookineyes101: Heh, crazy hectic schedule? For what its worth, I am sorry its taken so long.

ChaosRonin: When I first named that chapter, that was a fear I had, but I want to keep the titles simple, direct, non-spoilerish, and two words.

Apathetic Angel: Thanks.

tagg: How about… now? Sorry it's taken so long.

Harbinger-of-sorrow-and-hat…: You'll see!

sasukeandkibalover: Well, its been awhile, but I'm back! Thanks for the great review.

Oldman543: Here it is!

PyroD's other half: Here is more!

green-gold-fox: Thank you, I hope you haven't lost interest with how long its been.

Dawnstar28: Wow, I'm glad you like the gods. I was really (really) nervous about them.

Itallia: (Fox smile) We'll see…

AznPuffyHair: (BLUSHES) Thank you!

ragnaros: No it is not!

Rhynim: NOT ABANDONED! I'm still here!

Alboc: Wow… thank you.

Shinku Naito: I hope you're still with me.

japanese-jew: I wouldn't mind one either. So here it is.

Kubbi-Sama: Thank you!

.Dark.Ninja.Bunneh: Its been so long… hope you are still with me.

Lillian-is-fickle: Wow… thank you. I'm glad you love it so much.

Lillian-is-fickle: Wait just a little longer.

MydridFox09: Thank you, here is more.

kaja1234: I like it too, sorry its taken so long.

Lillian-is-fickle: Thank you. I'll do my best.

Tsumetai Taiyoukai: May they rest. Thank you.

Tsumetai Taiyoukai: Sakura is, thanks.

Tsumetai Taiyoukai: Hummm… Kyuubi… wait and see!

cokeboi: It does… oh boy, it does.

cokeboi: Well, with the fourth's jutsu, I thought it was the best match I could make.

cokeboi: Thank you.

Sirshapechanger: I know. I do try.

Falcon Zanbandia of Nightma…: Thank you! I always did too and I finally decided to do something about it!

darkchild: Thank you. I hope you're still with me.

Jjvalour: This is how to spell your pen name, right? Here's more.

padfootstwin2: Its not abandoned! I'm here! Thank you for leaving a review though, it does mean a lot to me.

FreedomGundam: AAGH! I though you had a different pen name! POKE!

Sister of Kyuubi: (Fox smile) You'll see…

StitchesOFire: I normally can't stand it either. But at the time, I saw no other way to do it. It means a lot to me that you approve.

Cheruubi: Thank you!

Randomreader: Its been forever, but here is more!

Incarnate: Wow… thank you. I'm glad it is so important to you.

Mana-san: Thank you, here is more!

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SilverNinjaHikaru over and out!


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